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The Contra Costa County Clerk-Recorder’s office has released preliminary results for this year’s primary election, offering an initial but not-yet-final glimpse into the outcome on votes for three ballot measures and five races for major county-level seats impacting education, tax assessment, financial management, the courts, and the clerk-recorder’s office itself.
This election’s ballot includes competitive Contra Costa races that could have been subject to a runoff in the general election, with county assessor, superintendent of schools and auditor-controller destined to see new faces in their positions with no incumbent running.
Clerk-Recorder Kristin Connelly is defending her seat for a second term against challenger Pratima Sonavne. Jesse Hsieh, who was appointed to the Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge Q position by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2024, is seeking a full six-year term amid a challenge from Stanislaus County prosecutor and Contra Costa resident Valery Polyakov.
But according to preliminary results Tuesday evening, all of those positions are poised to be filled by candidates winning outright with more than 50% of the vote.
The closing of polls at 8 p.m. Tuesday evening marked a milestone for the incumbent clerk-recorder Kristin Connelly, with voting coming to an end in her second primary election since taking office in 2018, and early results appearing to suggest that she will be overseeing the office for years to come. She had garnered 87.9% of the vote compared with Sonavne’s 12.10% as of the second updated count of the night.
Hsieh was also poised to win a full term in his position outright, with 71.23% of the vote compared with Polyakov’s 28.77%.
The wide open county races are leaning toward Peter Karumbi for Auditor-Controller, who had 79.79% of the vote compared with opponent Deepika Naharas’ 20.21%, Dana Eaton for Superintendent of Schools — who led opponent Jag Lathan with 73.76% of the vote — and Vince Robb for Assessor with 68.96% of the vote, trailed in the three-way race by Nick Spinner at 22.08% and Kismat Kathrani at 8.96%.
Treasurer-Tax Collector Dan Mierzwa appeared for his first time on the ballot after being appointed in 2024, securing a full term with no opponent running in this year’s election.
San Ramon Valley voters were also faced with three ballot measures at the county level, two of which appeared poised to pass as of election night.
The Contra Costa Community College District’s $920 million bond Measure G was behind with 53% of voters against it and just under 47% voting in favor. Measure A, the urban line limit renewal measure, and Measure B, the 0.625% sales tax measure, were ahead with 68.6% and 58.6% of the vote respectively.
In other races for state seats that oversee areas within both Contra Costa and Alameda counties, the incumbents were pulling ahead of their challengers.
Congressional District 10 incumbent Rep. Mark DeSaulnier was at 59.71% while Assembly District 16 incumbent Asm. Rebecca Bauer-Kahan was at 64% of the vote in Contra Costa County.
While results for those two races differ slightly between the counties, the incumbents were leading in both Tuesday night.
Challengers for CD-10, Jeff Frese and Katherine Piccinini, were trailing behind with 14.32% and 12.34% of the vote respectively before midnight Tuesday, with AD-16 challengers Joseph Rubay and Chirag Kathrani trailing behind Bauer-Kahan at 32.89% and 3.11% respectively.
The top two vote-getters in both races will head to a runoff in the November general election.
