Contra Costa County's incumbent Assessor Gus Kramer is poised to enter what he's said will be his final term in the position before retirement, following an election win against challenger Floy Andrews that led to tense times between the two.

As of the most recently updated election results, Kramer had received votes from 116,161 county voters, or 56.26% of the total counted ballots, with Andrews at 90,306 votes, or 43.74% of the current count.

In an interview with DanvilleSanRamon ahead of the election, Kramer said that he was confident in winning what will be his eighth term in office. Despite saying that he planned for this to be his last term, he noted that there was still work to do, including on legislation he's been involved in, and mentoring potential candidates within the office who he hopes will run for the seat after his retirement.

"I'm the people's assessor," Kramer said in the May interview. "I look out for the little guy. I look out for the small businessperson."

Andrews' campaign, which accumulated a significant amount of support, including local endorsements from District 2 Supervisor Candace Andersen and Danville Mayor Newell Arnerich, put Kramer in the position to defend his seat for the first time since 2010, when he successfully ran against three challengers.

Andrews, as well as the three challengers Kramer faced in 2010, were able to use controversies in the assessor's office as leverage for their campaigns. The county settled a discrimination lawsuit against Kramer in 2009, ahead of the 2010 election. In his most recent term, Kramer faced potential censure from the Board of Supervisors for sexual harassment allegations, as well as the threat of removal from office by the county Grand Jury in 2019, amid allegations that he created a "hostile and abusive work environment."

For his part, Kramer told DanvilleSanRamon that he sees these incidents as backlash for assessing property values fairly and ignoring political pressures.

"They all sued because they did not get promoted to supervisor when they thought they should have," Kramer said. "They sued and complained because they did not get promoted, and the irony of that is I do not do the promotions. I let a committee of their peers make the decisions who gets promoted. But I'm the department head, so I get accused and sued."

Kramer also pointed to his own legal action against the Board of Supervisors, for allegedly violating the Brown Act by having undisclosed meetings.

"I'm not making any money on this," Kramer said. "I'm not getting any damages. I sued on behalf of every tax payer in this county, that they violated the Brown Act, that they have secret meetings in closed sessions."

Andersen acknowledged tensions between the Board of Supervisors and Kramer's office, saying that it was "difficult" to work with him. She and other supporters of Andrews' were vocal in calls for change to the office, amid Kramer's nearly 28 years in the position.

However, with Kramer's victory all but certain in the most recent, unofficial ballot count, he will continue to head the office, and work with the Board of Supervisors, for another term.

Kramer's seventh term in office runs out at the end of this year, making him set to be sworn in for his eight term in January. That term is set to run through 2027, marking a total of 32 years in office at the end of the next term.

As of Thursday evening, neither candidate had issued an official statement or provided comments about the outcome of the race.

Kramer said in May that there were two or three current members of his office who he'd be encouraging to run for his seat in the 2027 election. It's unknown if Andrews, a first-time political candidate, will seek the position again.

Final, certified election results are due from the county by July 7. As of Tuesday, there were 7,400 ballots remaining to be counted out of a total 241,020.