In a shocking turn of events that just brings to mind the saying “don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched”, Richmond City Councilmember Jovanka Beckles took the lead over Oakland City Councilmember Dan Kalb, and in a dramatic 284 vote swing. Now, the race for the number two place in the “top two” (behind lead vote-getting Buffy Wicks) in this California Primary has taken a new look, with Beckles essentially catching up to, then tying, then going past Kalb all in the space of one Friday day.
The vote picture now looks like this: Beckles 12,136 votes versus 11,851 votes for Kalb. That put Jovanka 284 votes ahead of Kalb. Prior to the new Friday report from Contra Costa County, Kalb was 304 votes ahead. What the Contra Costa County Friday report did was add 1,686 new votes for Beckles from that county, versus 815 votes for Kalb, again, from Contra Costa County. Add to that the 1,417 Alameda County votes for Beckles and 3,103 new votes were added for Beckles that Friday against 2,515 votes for Kalb.
Now, Dan Kalb has a dwendling number of days and a 284 point gap to hope gets filled by the grace of God, if that’s what God wants to happen.
Meanwhile, Buffy Wicks knows she’s the front runner, and with that, can already start planning for the next phase of this election battle.
Stay tuned.