DANVILLE, CA — The polls are closed in Contra Costa County, and voters will soon know who will sit on the Danville Town Council, if billionaires will get their own California tax, and whether a blue wave will flood Congress, possibly sinking the final two years of President Donald Trump's lame-duck presidency.
Millions of voters and election officials wait not only for the results but also for the president's reaction. Trump's Justice Department spent the final two weeks of the campaign season issuing subpoenas to California election officials and suing to block 20,000 Golden State ballots from being counted amid allegations of illegal voting. The Justice Department issued subpoenas for multiple California election officials to appear in court the day after the election.
Amid that contentious backdrop, Californians cast their ballots for a new governor, widely expected to be Democrat Xavier Becerra, who went into the election with a wide lead in the polls over Republican Steve Hilton.
The outcome of dozens of down-ballot primary races also hangs in the balance in Contra Costa County, where voters are waiting to find out who came out ahead in dozens of local races, as well as congressional races for the 8th, 9th, and 10th Congressional Districts, and California State Assembly races for the 11th, 14th, 15th, and 16th districts.
Scroll down for real-time Contra Costa County election results.
Click here to track your ballot and make sure it is counted.
As of September, the California Secretary of State reported that 23,164,977 Californians were registered to vote, which accounts for more than 85 percent of the state's eligible voting population.
Not surprisingly, there are far more registered Democrats than Republicans in the state, with 45 percent for the former and 25 percent for the latter.
In Contra Costa County, the rate of voter registration is high. As of September, it was 90.45 percent — with 51.69 percent of voters registered as Democrats, and 19.31 percent registered as Republicans.
Click here for all County election results. Be sure to refresh this page for the latest.
Based on early voting, California is poised to see 60 percent of registered voters head to the polls, a record for a gubernatorial race, Paul Mitchell, of political data analysis firm Political Data told The San Francisco Chronicle.
While the governor's race was expected to be called early Tuesday, it's California's congressional races and ballot measures poised to offer the biggest upsets and surprises. Hanging in the balance is control of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Mitchell predicted that five key redrawn congressional districts appear poised to deliver Democratic victories driven, in part, by high turnout among Latino voters.
"I think the blue wave is on track," Mitchell told The Chronicle. "It seems to be on track that we're going to have a really strong turnout."
So far, voter turnout has been higher in competitive races such as the Central Valley's District 22 and the 48th Congressional District in San Diego — two districts Democrats hope to flip after their mid-decade gerrymander.
As of Oct. 29, Democratic voters represented 51 percent of ballots returned statewide compared to just 28 percent among Republican voters, according to the Political Data tracker.
Here are some of the issues Danville voters are helping decide.
Three candidates are running for two at-large seats on the Danville Town Council: Vice Mayor Robert Storer, retired San Ramon Police Department Chief Denton Carlson, and business owner and HR professional Pratima Sonavne.
We asked them about some of the topic issues facing Danville, including crime, housing, the local economy, and why they feel they're the best candidate to address them.
Patch reached out to all the candidates running for Area 5 of the San Ramon Valley Unified School District Board, which is SRVUSD's only contested race this election cycle. Area 5 is located in eastern and southeastern San Ramon, centered on Dougherty Valley.
See here for a district map and to search which district you live in.
Two other trustee areas are not on the ballot because only one candidate filed to run.
In Area 1, the only candidate running is Amanda Butland, who will replace Jessie vanZee, who announced in July that he will not seek re-election.
In Area 4, incumbent Susanna Ordway is running unopposed.
In Area 5, incumbent Rachel Hurd is running for her fifth term after serving on the SRVUSD Board of Trustees since 2006. She is running against Joel Woods, a substitute teacher running his first election.
Read their answers to some of the top issues facing the district, including the budget deficit and recruiting high-quality staff. Patch reprinted their answers word for word.
Assembly District 16 Democrat Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan is defending her seat against Joe Rubay, a Republican from Alamo.
Bauer-Kahan, an Orinda resident and former environmental lawyer, was first elected to the Assembly in 2018. Her 2026 campaign emphasizes online safety and AI, protecting homeowners insurance, increasing funding for public education, and protecting reproductive rights.
Joe Rubay, a local business owner who has served on the Contra Costa County Fair Board and as chair and vice chair of the Alamo Police Services Advisory Committee, emphasizes parental rights in education, tougher approaches to crime, and opposing state policies that encourage higher-density housing in suburban communities.
District 10 incumbent Democrat Mark DeSaulnier is defending his seat against Republican challenger Jeff Frese. DeSaulnier has served in Congress since January 2015, and previously served on the Concord City Council, Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors, and the California State Assembly and Senate. DeSaulnier supports expanding affordable housing, expanding access to health care, stricter gun regulations, and protections for immigrants, among many other positions. His 2026 campaign emphasizes lowering living costs, reducing traffic congestion, and protecting workers against artificial intelligence.
Jeff Frese is a Moraga small-business owner making his first bid for Congress. His campaign has focused on reducing government spending, lowering housing and energy costs, and limiting congressional terms to eight years. He also supports voter identification requirements, paper ballots, and making Election Day a national holiday.
California voters headed to the polls Tuesday, facing high gas and grocery prices, the effects of climate change on wildfires and rising seas amid a shortage in insurance coverage and the ever-present housing affordability crisis.
The governor's race was somewhat anticlimactic following a chaotic primary with a crowded field of candidates roiled when the frontrunner was forced to step down amid sexual assault allegations. Since then, Becerra maintained a steady lead over Hilton in the polls.
In the final days of the election, a new SurveyUSA poll showed Becerra with a 22-point lead.
Click here for real-time results in the California Governor's races.
All 52 of California's Congressional seats were on the ballot.
Congressional races across California were under intense scrutiny following voter approval of Proposition 50, a partisan redistricting measure expected to reshape the state's political map. Thanks to the redistricting, only a handful of districts were truly competitive. Democrats hoped to flip as many as five Republican House seats in a bid to overturn the GOP's slim House majority.
Democrats think they can flip as many as five seats, with four seeming very much in reach, according to the polls. Both parties are spending like control of the House is on the line.
There were 14 statewide propositions on the ballot this week. Arguably, the most hot-button ballot initiatives involve taxation. Proposition 40 is the highly discussed billionaire tax, while Propositions 41 and 42 aim to counter the measure. Proposition 3 also addresses taxes on the state's highest earners.
Click here for real-time results for all of California's ballot measures.
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