Alameda Mayor Concedes to School Board Member in Tight Re-Election Race

Alameda Mayor Marie Gilmore this morning conceded her re-election race against school board member Trish Spencer after a week of vote counting left her trailing by only 129 votes. According to unofficial results released Tuesday, Spencer led Gilmore 10,443 to 10,314. Spencer spent only $9,000 on her campaign but edged out a victory with a groundswell of support because of Alameda voters’ frustrations with City Hall and the direction of development in the island city, she said in a phone interview this afternoon.

“It really seems like there’s no effective communication between City Hall and the community,” Spencer said. She said that voters found City Hall was more concerned with the interests of developers than in how citizens wanted the city developed, such as in building housing along Alameda’s public golf course, which voters petitioned to block. Spencer said she advocates for more considered development and will seek to preserve more open space and wetlands as the city moves forward in developing its former Navy base.

In conceding today, Gilmore, the city’s first African American mayor, defended her record but said that despite her slim margin of defeat, she would not seek a recount.

“This was a historically close race -- about a 100 vote difference. That is proof that every vote counts and that we should all vote,” Gilmore said. She said that since she took office in 2010, the city has made huge progress in solving budgetary problems, including brokering deals with major city employee unions, and that the city has adopted new transparency ordinances.

“I have truly appreciated my opportunity to serve the community that I love,” Gilmore said. Ballot counting in the race has not concluded and Spencer said she was in Oakland this afternoon watching returns come in.

She said she expected unofficial final results to be released at about 5 p.m.

By Bay City News

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