Real-Time Results: Barrientos Leads In Livermore Council Race

LIVERMORE, CA — The polls are closed in Alameda County, and the first countywide results are trickling in.

Preliminary results show incumbent Councilmember Ben Barrientos leading in the race for Livermore City Council District 2. As of 9:42 p.m., Barrientos leads rival Narayan Tadimeti 70.5% to 29.5%. In the three races for the LVJUSD Board of Trustees, Tara Boyce, Angela Bady, and incumbent Christiaan Vandenheuvel are all polling ahead.

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, and elected former Attorney General and Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra as governor. In Alameda County, Becerra leads Republican challenger Steve Hilton 80.4% to 19.6% as of 9:30 p.m. Statewide, Becerra is winning 61-34%.

The outcome of dozens of down-ballot primary races also hangs in the balance in Alameda County, where voters are waiting to find out who came out ahead in dozens of local races, as well as congressional races for the 10th, 12th, 14th, and 17th Congressional Districts, the California State Assembly races for the 14th, 16th, 18th, 20th, and 24th Assembly Districts, and the 10th California Senate District.

Scroll down for real-time Alameda 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 Alameda County, the rate of voter registration is high. As of September, it was 83.75 percent — with 57.72 percent of voters registered as Democrats, and 12.05 percent registered as Republicans.

Click here for all County election results. Be sure to refresh this page for the latest.

Record Turnout

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 the races Livermore voters will help decide.

Livermore City Council

Patch reached out to the two candidates running for City Council District 2, the only contested seat this year.

John Marchand is running unopposed for re-election as mayor, and Evan Branning is running unopposed for re-election for City Council District 1. On Aug. 20, the city council voted to cancel those two elections and reappoint Marchand and Branning, a move they said would save the city at least $250,000 in election costs.

In District 2, located in the northern and northeastern part of the city, incumbent Ben Barrientos is running against Narayan Tadimeti.

• Meet The Livermore Candidate: Ben Barrientos
• Meet The Livermore Candidate: Narayan Tadimeti

Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District

Patch reached out to the seven candidates running for three open seats on the Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District, and reprinted their answers word for word.

This is the first LVJUSD board election using districts.

Below, learn more about what each candidate thinks about the top issues facing the district, and why they’re best positioned to address them.

See here for a map of council districts, and to find out which district you’re in.

Area 2:

• Meet The Livermore School Board Candidate: Tara Boyce
• Meet The Livermore School Board Candidate: Stephen Orgain

Area 3:

• Meet The Livermore School Board Candidate: Angela Brady
• Deborah Gibson did not respond, despite two attempts to contact her

Area 5:

• Meet The Livermore School Board Candidate: Deena Kaplanis
• Meet The Livermore School Board Candidate: Sam Phelps
• Meet The Livermore School Board Candidate: Christiaan VandenHeuvel

State Assembly

AD 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.

Congress

Livermore will get to weigh in on a congressional race that attracted national attention. CA-14, encompassing much of the East Bay, was left vacant after former Congressman Eric Swalwell resigned amid sexual assault allegations.

Aisha Wahab, a former Hayward City Council member and California state senator, narrowly defeated Melissa Hernandez, president of the BART board and former mayor of Dublin, in a special election in August. She was sworn in September.

Wahab and Hernandez will face off again in November for a two-year seat. Both candidates are Democrats, though Wahab is generally seen as the more progressive candidate, emphasizing affordable housing, expanded social services, civil rights, and addressing corporate practices that contribute to high costs.

Hernandez emphasizes job creation, small-business growth, housing construction, public safety, and reducing health care costs. While both candidates prioritize affordability, Wahab emphasizes expanding social programs, while Hernandez focuses more on economic development.

Gubernatorial Primary

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.

Congressional 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.

Click here for real-time results in California’s Congressional races.

Propositions

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.