BERKELEY — Initial results show Sophie Hahn leading in the race for Berkeley mayor with education consultant Adena Ishii trailing closely behind and former Councilmember Kate Harrison in third place.
Berkeley representatives are elected through ranked choice voting, meaning the lowest vote getter will be removed from the running and ballots will be retabulated until a candidate rises above 50% of the vote.
Hahn, who currently represents District 5, and Harrison, who represented District 4 before resigning earlier this year, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ishii, formerly president of the local League of Women Voters chapter, said she’s feeling good about her standing in the race while also recognizing ranked choice voting could mean big shifts in the race depending on who voters put as their second choice.
“This was an outcome we were hoping for. Knowing we have less name recognition, we were expecting to be in second. There’s still so much left to count,” Ishii said.
Four additional council seats are up for grabs.
In District 2, Councilmember Terry Taplin is leading his opponent Jenny Guarino, a graduate student with UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy and a union leader at the university.
District 3 Councilmember Ben Bartlett was also leading in his reelection bid. Real estate broker Deborah Matthews received the next greatest number of votes followed by Police Accountability Board Chair John “Chip” Moore.
Zoning Adjustment Board Member Shoshana O’Keefe was leading in the race to represent District 5, followed by Todd Andrew, chair of the Solano Avenue Business Improvement District Advisory Board and then Nilang Gor, an infectious and genetic diseases scientist.
Small business owner Brent Blackaby was leading in District 6 against Andy Katz, a member of the East Bay Municipal Utility District Board of Directors. Councilmember Susan Wengraf is retiring from the seat at the end of this term.