Contra Costa County election results: District Attorney Becton, Sheriff Livingston, and Assessor Kramer has Huge leads in early results

In early results Tuesday, the incumbent Contra Costa County district attorney, sheriff, and longstanding assessor appeared to be clinging to their seats, as two contenders surged ahead of the pack in one supervisor race and a longtime incumbent appeared to be on the verge of victory in another. Deputy District Attorney Mary Knox, a conservative who has supported boosting law enforcement's reaction to mob retail robberies in the Bay Area, faced off against District Attorney Diana Becton, a progressive prosecutor backed by billionaire George Soros. In the sheriff's election, incumbent David Livingston led 13-year Richmond police Officer Ben Therriault, a union leader who opposed Livingston's more conservative approach to criminal justice, by a two-to-one margin early on.

Livingston's public support for a former Contra Costa County sheriff's officer sentenced to six years in prison for fatally shooting a man in 2018 was one of Therriault's accusations. Law enforcement groups contributed and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to help Livingston's district attorney candidacy after Knox backed her stance. Gus Kramer, the assessor, had an early lead against Floy Andrews, the challenger. Over nearly three decades in office, the incumbent has faced a long list of controversies, including allegations of workplace misconduct, investigations into questionable property assessments, and thousands of dollars in fines for failing to disclose campaign contributions and all of his real estate holdings.

He has rejected the allegations of misbehavior and claims that he was targeted by county employees after being denied job promotions. In 2020, a civil trial to determine whether Kramer created a hostile work environment for his workers was called off due to a mistrial. Andrews, a Richmond resident with a career in law and real estate and experience on the county's Assessment Appeals Board, made the allegations against him a campaign emphasis. Andrews was approved for assessor by all five county supervisors.

In other parts of the county, Pleasant Hill City Councilman Ken Carlson and Concord City Councilwoman Carlyn Obringer are leading BART Director Debora Allen in a two-candidate runoff election to replace retiring Supervisor Karen Mitchoff. In early results, healthcare advocate Roxanne Garza and Concord Councilman Edi Birsan were significantly behind the other three contenders. Mitchoff, whose district includes mostly suburban areas such as Concord, Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill, and Clayton, will step down after serving in the position since 2011.

Carlson's campaign was fuelled by individual donations, while Obringer received strong union support and Allen received a large financial boost from police enforcement.

Carlson described his campaign as "grassroots" in an interview following the preliminary results. "Neither organized labor nor a major political party supported us." It arose from my work on the Pleasant Hill City Council for over a decade, working with elected officials from all throughout the region."

Birsan had been a vociferous proponent of selecting development businesses tied to the local Seeno family to build 13,000 new residences at the Concord Naval Weapons Station and had personally given $17,000 to his own campaign. If none of the candidates obtains more than 50% of the vote, a runoff election will be held in November between the top two vote-getters. Meanwhile, in the race to represent Contra Costa County's western region, which includes Richmond, El Cerrito, and San Pablo, longtime Supervisor John Gioia held a huge early lead over schoolteacher Hulan Barnett.

Barnett had targeted Gioia, a defender of progressive principles, with hatred and even violent threats on Facebook, referring to the longstanding incumbent's tenure as "the 24-year term of THE RAT." Barnett frequently confused COVID-19 vaccine regulations in public schools with Nazi Germany's policy in campaign advertising and interviews. In another Facebook post, Barnett encouraged people to "raise HELL" at public events, adding, "Hopefully, the Supervisor is there." "Women and children will not be harmed." Because of Barnett's choice of words, Gioia has asked not to appear in person with him at election forums for fear of violence.