2014 Election Review: Upset in Oakland and runoffs for Austin
November 6, 2014
By Ballotpedia's Municipal Government team
In total, 106 mayoral and city council seats were up for election in 26 of America's 100 largest cities on November 4, 2014. Of these, our team identified 14 interesting races in four different municipalities. Mayoral races in Austin, Texas, Oakland, California and Washington, D.C., alongside city council races in Austin, Texas and San Diego, California had our attention Tuesday night.
Oakland, California
- See also: Ranked-choice voting
The mayoral election in Oakland, California was a source of intense drama. In 2010, Jean Quan gained enough votes in the final round of voting to leapfrog Don Perata, who had led during the entire vote counting process, to win the mayor's office. Oakland uses a system called ranked-choice voting that allows voters to select up to three candidates in order of preference and transfers their votes as candidates are defeated.[1][2] Polling in September put city councilwoman and 2010 third-place candidate Rebecca Kaplan 12 points ahead of Quan, but election night provided quite a surprise.[3][4] Council member Elizabeth "Libby" Schaaf, consistently third in polling behind Kaplan and Quan, garnered almost double the first preference votes of either candidate and ultimately defeated Kaplan 63-37.
| Oakland, California Mayoral Election, 2014 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | First Preference Votes | Vote % | Total Votes | Vote % | 2014 Winner | |
| Jason "Shake" Anderson | 816 | 1.46% | ||||
| Peter Yuan Liu | 246 | 0.44% | ||||
| Patrick K. McCullough | 207 | 0.37% | ||||
| Bryan Parker | 4,481 | 8.03% | ||||
| Jean Quan - Incumbent | 8,819 | 15.81% | ||||
| Courtney Ruby | 1,775 | 3.18% | ||||
| Saied Karamooz | 136 | 0.24% | ||||
| Elizabeth "Libby" Schaaf | 16,243 | 29.11% | 26,368 | 62.79% | 
| |
| Nancy Sidebotham | 161 | 0.29% | ||||
| Dan Siegel | 6,758 | 12.11% | ||||
| Joseph Tuman | 6,911 | 12.39% | ||||
| Charles Ray Williams | 642 | 1.15% | ||||
| Ken Houston | 296 | 0.53% | ||||
| Rebecca Kaplan | 8,089 | 14.50% | 15,623 | 37.21% | ||
| Eric Wilson | 218 | 0.39% | ||||
Source: Alameda County Registrar of Voters - 100% of precincts reporting
Austin, Texas
The city of Austin, Texas held elections for the first time under new rules passed in November 2012. These changes included creating four new city council seats, establishing ten districts for which individual council members are elected, and imposing term limits of three, three-year terms. Previously, the six council members were all elected at large without term limits.[5][6] These new rules left only two incumbents, Chris Riley and Kathie Tovo, eligible to run. Because both ran in District 9, this meant Austin was set to elect a new mayor and nine new city council members. Only two city council seats were decided on election night; the mayor's office and other eight council seats will be decided in runoff elections on December 16.
| Austin, Texas Municipal Elections, 2014 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seat | Total Votes | Vote % | Runoff? | Winner(s) | ||
| Mayor | 64,279 / 51,804 | 36.763% / 29.63% | Yes | Stephen Adler / Mike Martinez | ||
| District 1 | 6,421 / 1,884 | 49.12% / 14.41% | Yes | Ora Houston / DeWayne Lofton | ||
| District 2 | 5,568 | 65.76% | No | Delia Garza | ||
| District 3 | 2,137 / 1,914 | 20.99% / 18.80% | Yes | Susana Almanza / Sabino "Pio" Renteria | ||
| District 4 | 3,268 / 1,822 | 38.65% / 21.55% | Yes | Gregorio Casar / Laura Pressley | ||
| District 5 | 11,378 | 53.62% | No | Ann Kitchen | ||
| District 6 | 3,722 / 3,697 | 24.21% / 24.05% | Yes | Donald S. Zimmerman / James T. Flannigan | ||
| District 7 | 6,262 / 3,292 | 32.14% / 16.89% | Yes | Leslie Pool / Jefferson E. Boyt | ||
| District 8 | 5,676 / 5,496 | 26.38% / 25.54% | Yes | Ellen Troxclair / Edward S. Scruggs | ||
| District 9 | 10,003 / 8,241 | 49.05% / 40.41% | Yes | Kathie Tovo / Chris Riley | ||
| District 10 | 8,539 / 6,386 | 30.65% / 22.93% | Yes | Amanda "Mandy" Dealey / Sheri P. Gallo | ||
Source: Travis County Clerk - 100% of precincts reporting
San Diego, California
San Diego had a crucial race in District 6 this year. Although both candidates were officially nonpartisan, Carol Kim was endorsed by the San Diego County Democratic Party and Chris Cate was endorsed by current mayor Kevin Faulconer (R).[7] Prior to this election, Democratic-affiliated members held a 6-3 majority and were able to veto Faulconer's policies.[8] With Cate's victory, the council will revert to a 5-4 majority that holds no veto power.[9] Polling in September put Cate 11 points ahead of Kim, which held true as Cate won by 10 points.[10] For more information on the council majority situation, click here.
| San Diego, California City Council Elections, 2014 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Affiliation | Total Votes | Vote % | 2014 Winner | ||
| Chris Cate | 
|
13,399 | 54.57% |
| ||
| Carol Kim | 
|
11,155 | 45.43% | |||
Source: County of San Diego - 100% of precincts reporting
Washington, D.C. municipal elections, 2014
Washington, D.C. elected a new mayor this year after Muriel Bowser (D) defeated City Councilman David Catania (I) and four others in the general election. Bowser defeated incumbent Vincent Gray (D) in the Democratic primary. Polling in late September put Bowser eight points ahead of Catania, but she actually won election by 18 points.[11][12] Hot-button issues in this race included public transportation, cost of living, school reform and marijuana.
| Washington, D.C. Mayoral Election, 2014 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Party | Total Votes | Vote % | 2014 Winner | ||
| Muriel Bowser |
|
80,303 | 53.92% |
| ||
| Faith | 
|
1,168 | 0.78% | |||
| Bruce Majors | 
|
982 | 0.66% | |||
| David Catania | 
|
52,618 | 35.33% | |||
| Nestor Djonkam |
|
361 | 0.24% | |||
| Carol Schwartz |
|
10,583 | 7.11% | |||
Source: District of Columbia Board of Elections - 100% of precincts reporting
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ SFGate, "Crowded field a challenge for Oakland mayor, voters," August 31, 2014
- ↑ Alameda County Registrar of Voters, "Ranked-Choice Voting," accessed September 11, 2014
- ↑ Survey USA, "Oakland Mayoral Poll," accessed November 6, 2014
- ↑ OaklandMayor2014.com, "Oakland Mayoral Poll," accessed November 6, 2014
- ↑ Daily Texan Online, "City Propositions 1 and 2 Pass: Austin to have November City Elections," November 7, 2012
- ↑ The Austin Bulldog, "10 to 1 Plan to rule council elections," November 7, 2012
- ↑ L.A. Times, "San Diego mayoral runoff to pit Kevin Faulconer against David Alvarez," November 20, 2013
- ↑ KPBS news, "Zapf Wins; Cate, Kim Headed To Runoff In City Council Races," June 3, 2014
- ↑ U-T San Diego, "Peters-DeMaio could change council race," September 8, 2014
- ↑ Survey USA, "San Diego City Council District 6 Poll," accessed November 6, 2014
- ↑ NBC4/Washington Post/Marist, "Washington, D.C. Mayoral Poll," accessed November 6, 2014
- ↑ Economic Growth DC, "CapitalDecision2014 Poll," accessed November 6, 2014
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