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UPDATE: Late-night election results shuffled the leaderboard slightly, pushing Romero to the front of the pack. Romero, Lincoln and Dinan retained their leads as new results were released on Wednesday and Thursday evenings
Incumbent Carlos Romero, Webster Lincoln and Mark Dinan secured the early lead in the race to take the three open seats on the East Palo Alto City Council, according to preliminary election results, which are set to change as more ballots are counted.
At the start of the night, Dinan was leading the pack, but by 2 a.m., Romero and Lincoln had each surpassed him by under a hundred votes each.
Romero would retain his seat on the council and other winners would take the spots of current councilmember Lisa Gauthier and Mayor Antonio Lopez.
Candidates spent their evenings watching the results in their homes and throughout East Palo Alto, many stopping by the local YMCA, like Mark Dinan, who showed promising early returns with nearly 16% of the vote and more than 1,200 votes, according to preliminary results.
Dinan was cautiously optimistic, he said on the phone, and said there was plenty of “ballgame left.”
“I’m very happy with the support I’ve received so far,” he said. “But I’m not celebrating yet.”
In his second time running for council, he raised the most money out of nine candidates. Dinan believes he can create forward momentum – establish a parks and recreation department, increase local business and infrastructure and build more housing with years of experience on the Public Works and Transportation Commission.
Lincoln, who also stopped by the YMCA, also led the pack, with 1,320 votes – a little over 16% of votes, according to early results.
He echoed Dinan’s sentiment that results are likely to swing as Election Day results continue to pour in, but wants people to know he’s committed to helping the community.
“I’m really running to serve all residents of East Palo Alto; this is a public servant role at the end of the day,” he said.
It is Lincoln’s third time running for council after he was narrowly defeated in 2022. He grew up in East Palo Alto, and as a former tech worker for the California Department of Public Health and Genentech, he hopes to connect local companies with residents to promote workforce development and support local youth through civil engagement. He was also an active supporter in the fight to keep the East Palo Alto sanitary district independent.
Romero, the only incumbent, who first joined City Council in 2008, was neck-and-neck with the top two before surpassing them early Wednesday morning, securing more than 1,300 votes, or nearly 17% of the vote.
He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Romero has spent decades serving East Palo Alto, starting with the fight to establish it as a city and continuing to support residents through affordable housing measures and renter protections – as a candidate, he hopes to continue working toward those priorities, he said.
Deborah Lewis-Virges fell in fourth, according to preliminary results, with over 1,000 votes, capturing just over 13% of the vote.
She did not immediately respond for comment.
Lewis-Virges, who raised the second-most amount of money in this race, moved to East Palo Alto in 2015 and became a pastor at Saint Mark church two years later. Her experiences there and on the Community Safety Team, Climate Change Community Team and East Palo Alto’s Public Works and Transportation Commission inspired her to lead a candidacy based in small business growth and accessible housing.
Maria Rocha trailed a bit further behind, with 867 votes, at around 10.5%.
She did immediately respond to a request for comment.
Rocha works in data security at Stanford University and is a former Ravenswood teacher who grew up in East Palo Alto. Rocha, sister of current councilmember Martha Barragan, prioritizes care for elders, youth and pets and improving emergency preparedness.
Ofelia Bello, who told this publication that she bowed out of the race, still received 867 votes, around 10%.
Bello could not immediately be reached for comment.
Ravneel Chaudhary, a recent college graduate who spent years working for his student government at UC Merced, received 579 votes so far, or over 7% of the vote.
Chaudhary did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
He ran a candidacy aimed at youth civic engagement, affordable housing and climate change initiatives, which he hoped to bolster as someone who understands the struggles of East Palo Alto youth firsthand.
Gail Wilkerson, an attorney with a background in tax work, rounded out the votes with 412 votes, at more than 5% of the total, according to preliminary numbers.
Wilkerson did not immediately respond for comment.
If elected, she hopes to fight gentrification, traffic and increase access to local amenities like grocery stores.
Dennis Scherzer followed behind with 353 votes, nearly 5%, according to election night results.
Scherzer could not immediately be reached for comment.
He sat on the East Palo Alto Sanitary District’s board for over a decade and aims to bring that expertise to City Council. Rather than prioritize more office or business space, he hopes to encourage senior housing development and focus on the people that already live in East Palo Alto, rather than newcomers.
In the past, East Palo Alto City Council election results have taken weeks to verify and results are subject to change.
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