NAPA VALLEY, CA — Voters awoke this morning to a blue wave sweeping through cities and states across the United States, creating uncertainty for the final two years of President Donald Trump's presidency.
Across the country, Democrats captured both chambers of Congress and flipped several Republican-held governorships. Voters also delivered historic firsts: Georgia elected Keisha Lance Bottoms as the nation's first Black woman governor, while Texas elected Gina Hinojosa as its first Latina governor.
Against a contentious political backdrop, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra entered the election with a wide polling lead over Republican Steve Hilton.
As of 8:08 a.m. this morning, Becerra was leading statewide with 64 percent, followed by Steve Hilton with 36 percent.
In Napa County, Becerra had a commanding lead with 69 percent of votes compared to 31 percent (13,192 votes to 5,934 votes).
Click here for all Napa County election results.
A dead heat became a four-vote lead in Yountville's mayoral race as Napa County's overnight election count offered a clearer picture of voters' choices — and a reminder of how much a handful of ballots could matter.
Elsewhere in the valley, candidates maintained leads in city council and school board contests, while voters continued to favor measures supporting wildfire protection, city services and Yountville's spending authority.
Yountville mayor — Challenger Joe Tagliaboschi was narrowly ahead of incumbent Mayor Marjorie Mohler at 1:46 a.m. this morning.
Yountville Town Council — Hillery Bolt Trippe and Robin McKee were leading the race for two seats with 27 percent and 26 percent of the votes, respectively. Jill Turner had 21 percent, Matthew Chrzanowski had 19 percent and Jessi Bugden had 6 percent (321 votes for Trippe; 308 for McKee; 245 for Turner; 230 for Chrzanowski; 71 for Bugden).
Napa City Council, District 3 — Councilmember Mary Luros was leading Jim Hinton with 70 percent of the votes to 30 percent (1,575 votes to 691 votes).
Napa City Council, District 1 — Christopher DeNatale ran unopposed and had 100 percent of the votes counted (2,292 votes).
American Canyon City Council — Sindy Biederman and David Oro remained the top two candidates in the race for two seats, with 29 percent and 26 percent of the votes, respectively.
Robert Cole had 18 percent, Jason Kishineff had 16 percent and Jim Giron had 11 percent (848 votes for Biederman; 758 for Oro; 527 for Cole; 474 for Kishineff; 326 for Giron).
St. Helena mayor — Bonnie Schoch was leading Patrick Kenealy with 70 percent of the votes to 30 percent (813 votes to 356 votes).
St. Helena City Council — Daniel Hale and Joshua Parke were leading the race for two seats with 28 percent and 27 percent of the votes, respectively. Scott Diaz had 20 percent, Kate Spadarotto had 18 percent and John Pedersen had 7 percent (544 votes for Hale; 514 for Parke; 379 for Diaz; 343 for Spadarotto; 132 for Pedersen).
Calistoga — There was no municipal contest on the ballot after the city canceled its election when the number of qualified candidates matched the available mayoral and council seats.
U.S. House, District 4 — Democratic incumbent Mike Thompson led fellow Democrat Eric Jones among Napa County voters with 60 percent of the votes to 40 percent.
However, districtwide, Eric Jones was leading overnight with about 52 percent, compared with Thompson's 48 percent (61,929 votes to 57,671 votes).
California Assembly, District 4 — Democratic incumbent Cecilia Aguiar-Curry ran unopposed and had 100 percent of the votes counted in Napa County.
Napa Valley Unified, Trustee Area 1 — Robin Jankiewicz was leading Matthew McMann with 65 percent of the votes to 35 percent (1,920 votes to 1,032 votes).
Napa Valley Unified, Trustee Area 6 — Elba Gonzalez-Mares was leading Tyrone Navarro with 60 percent of the votes to 40 percent (1,172 votes to 771 votes).
Napa Valley Unified, Trustee Area 7 — David Hildebrandt was leading with 43 percent of the votes, followed by Jason M. Dooley with 30 percent, John Houser with 19 percent and Gabriel Champagne Affonso with 9 percent (862 votes to 600 votes to 380 votes to 178 votes).
Calistoga Joint Unified School District — Laurel Rios and Irene Pena were leading the race for two board seats with 32 percent and 25 percent of the votes, respectively. Cecilia Ramirez had 23 percent and Rebecca Sager had 20 percent (571 votes for Rios; 438 for Pena; 399 for Ramirez; 361 for Sager).
Napa Valley College, Trustee Area 2 — Jeff Dodd was leading Heriverto Ruiz with 63 percent of the votes to 37 percent (1,005 votes to 591 votes).
Napa Valley College, Trustee Area 3 — Emily Pastula was leading with 38 percent of the votes, followed by Elizabeth L. Goff with 33 percent and Karina Servente with 29 percent (530 votes to 459 votes to 413 votes).
Napa Valley College, Trustee Area 4 — William "Kyle" Iverson was leading Cindy Johnson with 53 percent of the votes to 47 percent (1,448 votes to 1,303 votes).
Measure B — Napa County: Yes was leading with 64 percent of the votes, followed by no with 36 percent. The measure proposed establishing a half-cent sales tax for 18 years to support wildfire preparedness, watershed protection and open space preservation, generating an estimated $23 million annually (11,819 yes votes to 6,635 no votes).
Measure P — American Canyon: Yes was leading with 58 percent of the votes, followed by no with 42 percent. The measure proposed establishing a 1 percent sales tax for general city services, generating an estimated $3.7 million annually until voters repealed it (1,085 yes votes to 782 no votes).
Measure S — St. Helena: Yes was leading with 58 percent of the votes, followed by no with 42 percent. The measure proposed establishing a half-cent sales tax for general city services, generating an estimated $2 million annually until voters ended it (690 yes votes to 508 no votes).
Measure Y — Yountville: Yes was leading with 82 percent of the votes, followed by no with 18 percent. The measure proposed updating the town's constitutional spending limit for four years, allowing the town to appropriate qualifying tax revenue without creating a new tax or increasing existing tax rates (613 yes votes to 134 no votes).
These figures reflected Napa County's 1:46 a.m. Wednesday report, when additional ballots remained to be counted. Percentages were rounded to the nearest whole number and may not total exactly 100 percent. Read the overnight election report.
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 expected to 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.
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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