Four votes separate incumbent Mayor Marjorie Mohler and challenger Joe Tagliaboschi, who appears to be in the lead with 50.3% of the vote, according to Friday’s tally from the Napa County Election Division.
The returns show that of 728 votes counted, 366 were for Tagliaboschi and 362 were for Mohler. Updated results will be released at 5 p.m. Monday, according to the election division.
Yountville, a small Napa Valley town of 3,436, pays the mayor $950 a month.
Mohler, elected mayor in 2022, had just one challenger in this election: Tagliaboschi, a former Town Council member and current city manager for Trinidad in Humboldt County.
Mohler is an experienced civic leader first elected to the Town Council in 2008 and is backed by the Laborers’ International Union of North America, according to the union. According to filings, her campaign has raised around $3,000, paid by Mohler’s husband.
Tagliaboschi and Mohler fall on opposite sides of a debate around a massive affordable workforce housing complex in town called the Yountville Commons that has prompted a number of newcomers to run for office this year.
While Mohler supports the project, Tagliaboschi has said the planning process of the Commons lacked transparency and generated mistrust in the sitting council. Plans were ultimately halted this summer by residents who signed a petition against the Commons.
Tagliaboschi has not reported any direct contributions, according to his campaign filings. But a political action committee called Build a Better Yountville, run by billionaire real estate investor and anti-Commons advocate Gary Jabara, purchased around $5,000 worth of signage supporting Tagliaboschi’s campaign, according to the PAC’s filings.