MARTINEZ — Only 67 votes currently separate the candidates eyeing an open seat on the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors, with tens of thousands of ballots left to count.
Shanelle Scales-Preston, a Pittsburg city councilmember who has worked for California’s 10th Congressional District since 2001, is currently leading Mike Barbanica, an Antioch city councilmember and retired Pittsburg police lieutenant, in early election results for District 5 — home to more than 200,000 residents along the county’s northern waterfront, encompassing Martinez, Hercules, Pittsburg and a sliver of Antioch.
Scales-Preston held a 0.14% advantage over Barbanica, according to early results from roughly 50,200 ballots counted by Nov. 5.
Both candidates are vying to replace Supervisor Federal Glover, who announced his retirement in December after serving on the board for 24 years.
Through October, direct contributions to Scales-Preston’s campaign surpassed $187,000 — raising nearly 50% more than her opponent’s roughly $115,200 in donations. Contra Costa County’s election laws set a $2,500 cap for these contributions, from both individuals and political committees.
However, this face-off to become District 5’s supervisor was also awash in more than $1.5 million in independent expenditures, which is an unlimited spending mechanism separate from a candidate’s own campaign, which advocacy groups frequently use to bolster their influence in policy-making.
More than $876,000 in independent expenditures backed Barbanica — primarily funded by groups representing hundreds of police officers, dispatchers and law enforcement officials across the Bay Area. That sum quickly outpaced outside spending supporting Scales-Preston’s campaign, which raked in nearly $660,000, largely from labor unions and organizations.
All told, the election raised more than $1.8 million. Both candidates said they believe this is the most expensive supervisor race in the county’s history — reflecting each campaigns’ perspectives that they were fighting against negative and misleading attacks funded by “the machine.”
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Results from an additional 90,000 countywide ballots will be published by 5 p.m. Friday, according to Dawn Kruger, spokesperson for the Elections Division of the Contra Costa County Clerk-Recorder’s Office. Ballots that were mailed by Election Day will be received and added to the total tallies through Nov. 12.
While awaiting the next round of results, both candidates were feeling hopeful.
Scales-Preston thanked the “everyday working people” who donated between $5 to $100 to support her bid for county office.
“I feel encouraged — I’m blessed that I am in the lead and overcame all the negativity,” Scales-Preston said in an interview Wednesday, referencing numerous mailers, billboards and text ads that advocated against her candidacy. “This has been the people’s campaign.”
Barbanica said he “strangely” feels less stressed now, compared to the previous 16 months spent campaigning.
“We feel very strongly that we’re going to win this thing,” he said over the phone Wednesday, noting that the vote differential got smaller with each incremental update so far. “At this point, the voters are going to decide — it’s out of our hands. Either way, I’ll respect (the final outcome).”
This steep financial support, in part, illustrates the starkly different ways Barbanica, 55, and Scales-Preston, 46, advocated that they are the best person to govern the diverse communities across District 5, which contend with different needs for public safety, homelessness, industry regulation and development.
Barbanica waged a campaign that is based in law-and-order priorities — emphasizing the need to crack down on crime, homeless encampments, urban and rural blight and what he sees as mismanagement of the county’s $5 billion budget. Highly critical of the way the county has historically spent taxpayer dollars, he said he would push to craft more cost-effective solutions, such as collaborating with existing landlords and temporary housing programs to help residents find stability.
Scales-Preston ran on a platform that prioritized collaboration to bolster affordable housing production, transportation access and youth and job programs to support residents, especially marginalized communities. She highlighted the necessity of tackling both big systemic projects and “everyday” issues, pointing to her success funding roof repairs at a local homeless shelter and organizing ceasefire initiatives to quell gun violence in Pittsburg and Antioch.