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Wonman Lee and Laura Melahn appear headed for victory in their Menlo Park City Council races, while Vamsi Velagapudi has widened his narrow lead over incumbent Drew Combs, according to updated results released Nov. 5 by the San Mateo County Elections Office.
The 2 p.m. update, the county’s first since election night, showed Lee and Melahn holding onto substantial advantages in Districts 1 and 4. The District 2 contest, to represent the Willows, Flood Triangle and Lorelei Manor neighborhoods, is much closer, with Velagapudi leading Combs by 69 votes.
Velagapudi had 874 votes, or 52.05%, compared with Combs’ 805 votes, or 47.95%. Combs led by 15 votes in the first election night results, but Velagapudi moved ahead by nine votes by the night’s final tabulation.
“The trend line is favoring Mr. Velagapudi, and there’s nothing to suggest that will change,” Combs said in an email. He added that he plans to release a longer statement as more votes are counted.
Velagapudi said he is still waiting for more votes to be tallied.
“The votes are still being counted and this is clearly a close election. Win or lose, we have a lot of issues to address, and I hope we can move forward together as a community,” Velagapudi said.
In District 1, which includes the Belle Haven and Bayfront neighborhoods, Lee had 573 votes, or 73.9%, while James Rohr had 202 votes, or 26.1%.
“I will fight to keep the American Dream alive in Menlo Park, so that hard work here still leads to a good life, and a better one for future generations,” Lee said in a statement. “It shouldn’t be this hard to raise a family here, and I will do my best to help give every family a real shot at that dream.”
Rohr remained hopeful he could close the substantial gap as counting continued.
“I’m just waiting to see the new count tomorrow even though I think the rate of counting is going to have us wait a while before we know for sure,” Rohr said Nov. 5.
In District 4, which includes downtown, Allied Arts and parts of central Menlo Park, Melahn had 1,064 votes, or 61.8%, compared to Charlotte Reed’s 659 votes, or 38.3%.
“I’m honored that District 4 appears to be choosing me. I’ll let the county continue to count, but I’m looking forward to getting to work for Menlo Park,” Melahn said in an interview.
Reed said that regardless of the outcome, she is happy to have given District 4 a choice.
“For a long time, our residents have been told that a better Menlo Park should only be for a select few,” she said.
