Marchand Back In The Lead, According To Monday Totals

LIVERMORE, CA — Former Livermore Mayor John Marchand has grown his lead against realtor and former Livermore police officer Mony Nop in the race for mayor, according to new totals released Monday afternoon by Alameda County.

The race has seesawed back and forth since election night: Marchand started off ahead on Tuesday, but by the end of the night, Nop was ahead by a handful of votes. On Thursday, new totals showed Marchand ahead by just 14 votes. The latest totals, released Monday at 4:26 p.m., show Marchand with 9,955 votes, or 51.59%, and Nop with 9,340 votes, or 48.41 percent of the vote.

It could be a while until the final results are known as thousands more ballots are counted. California law mandates that mail-in ballots postmarked by Nov. 8 and received by Nov. 15 must be counted. Final results are expected by certified in December.

"When I made the decision to run for mayor, my goal was to give the voters the choice for proven, effective leadership,” Marchand, who served as mayor from 2011-2020, told Patch in an email. “I succeeded in my goal and kept my promise to the Livermore voters."

Marchand also told Patch that he expected the race to be close due to an onslaught of spending. “Yes, the election is very close but that is to be expected when my campaign was outspent 20:1,” he said. “This is the most expensive Council election in history. Over $1.2 million dollars was spent against us. Lyna Lam's PAC alone spent over $200,000 supporting my opponent. My campaign spent around $52,000, almost all of it from local workers and residents.”

Nop confirmed that the race is one of the most expensive in Livermore history, but did not comment on particular figures.

“It’s very much a roller coaster ride, but I just believe in the people of Livermore, and am so darn grateful to be able to run in a democratic society,” he told Patch. “I believe that people want to be heard, and truly believe that people would like to see a change in Livermore, and it’s time for some fresh approach and ideas and people at the table.”

The rest of the Livermore City Council race has remained fairly static. Since election night, Planning Commissioner Evan Branning has held a comfortable lead against teacher Carol Wahrer in the race for District 1, and Livermore Lions Club President Ben Barrientos has held a comfortable lead against Mel Chiong, a General Plan Advisory Committee member and community activist.

As of Monday, Branning was ahead 1,886-1,330, or 58,64%-41.36 percent. Barrientos was ahead 2,337-1,889, 0r 55.30-44.7 percent.

LVJUSD Board

Two incumbents and one newcomer are leading the race for three open seats on the Livermore school board. As of 4:26 p.m. Wednesday, incumbent Emily Prusso leads with 9,823 votes, followed by President Craig Bueno with 9,159, followed by newcomer and CSU Stanislaus Education Professor Steve Drouin with 7,759.

Measure G

Measure G, a bond for $450 million to fund school facility improvements, appears increasingly unlikely to pass. 10,309 Livermore residents have voted “No” (51.44%) and 9,732 (48.56%) have voted yes. The measure needs at least 55 percent to pass.