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Retired Pleasanton police Capt. Craig Eicher appears on track to unseat incumbent Valerie Arkin in the City Council District 2, according to the most recent tallies from the Alameda County Registrar of Voters’ Office.
Meanwhile the District 4 race between two first-time candidates, Matt Gaidos and Vivek Mohan, continues to be decided by a narrower margin of votes in Gaidos’ favor.
Eicher, who served as the city’s interim police chief for about six months between 2019 and 2020, has 55.91% (2,885 votes) of the votes compared to Arkin, who is right behind him with 44.09% (2,275 votes), according to the county. Eicher has maintained that over-500 vote lead since Wednesday morning.
“I am committed to being a voice for everyone in our community, working to ensure our city is a place where all can thrive,” Eicher told the Weekly on Wednesday. “The work ahead will be challenging, but I am confident that together, we can create a brighter, more prosperous future for all.”
But Arkin, the longtime Pleasanton Unified School District trustee seeking a second term on the council, said she didn’t want to comment on the results just yet.
As of Thursday evening the registrar’s office had tallied 333,837 total ballots, but according to the Secretary of State’s office, the county still had 460,245 unprocessed ballots left to count as of Thursday — at that point the county had only processed 233,629 ballots. That means there are still roughly 360,000 ballots left to count as of Friday evening’s update from the county.
Eicher acknowledged the fact that there are still ballots left to count after Wednesday’s initial results. Despite that, he told the Weekly the same day that he is thankful for the support that led to him taking a strong lead in the race.
“I am deeply honored and incredibly grateful to have earned the community’s trust and support in this election,” Eicher said. “Being elected to serve on the Pleasanton City Council is a responsibility I take to heart, and I am excited to get to work representing Pleasanton.”
If the lead holds, he said he is ready to get to work and that winning the election isn’t just his victory, “it belongs to our entire community.”
“It’s a reflection of the hard work, dedication, and vision of everyone who helped bring us here,” he said. “I want to thank you for believing in the future we can build together.”
The District 4 race between Pleasanton Planning Commission Chairperson Gaidos and his fellow Planning Commissioner Mohan is, on the other hand, a little bit closer than the District 2 race.
According to the Friday update from the county, 53.75% (2,818 votes) prefer Gaidos — the Pleasanton native and prosecutor for the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office — over Mohan, a first-generation immigrant who has called Pleasanton his home for the past 12 years and founded two small companies. Mohan stood at 46.25% (2,425 votes).
“I am looking forward to answering the call to service,” Gaidos told the Weekly on Saturday morning.
“It will be a challenging time given what seems to be the certain fate of Measure PP. We will plan to address the budget in both short and long-term ways, and I am open to discussion and looking forward to hearing the ideas and suggestions of our new mayor and elected city councilperson,” Gaidos added.
This particular race saw a significant jump in additional votes after Election Night as the race continues to be decided by a couple hundred votes.
“It’s been an exciting few months. I’ve loved engaging with our amazing community,” Mohan told the Weekly on Thursday. “We have a deep pool of talented, accomplished folks who are also willing to engage and help with solving some of our city’s issues.”
Mohan said he spoke with the county’s office on Wednesday and learned there were still a lot of votes to be counted so he wanted to hold out until more ballots were tallied this week in order to get a better sense of the final election results.
The next update from the county will be on Monday, according to the registrar’s office. The Secretary of State’s office states that the election results are set to be certified on Dec. 13.
But even if he doesn’t win the race, Mohan said he is glad to see the other local elections pan out the way they are because it shows how much residents want to see change in their city government.
“I am glad the issues I ran on resonated with the voters,” he said. “(Measure) PP seems to be headed for defeat. Jack Balch and Craig Eicher, who ran on fiscal discipline, have comfortable leads … We the people deserve an effective, efficient, responsive government.”
The only negative Mohan took away from this election was the personal attacks he said he saw from folks who supported opposing candidates and said he hopes to see Pleasanton move away from that type of dirty politics moving forward.
“I was attacked with whisper campaigns about my educational qualifications, my work,” Mohan said. “There were unfounded allegations in a public body meeting about my friends and me threatening folks. This … needs to stop. Interestingly enough, there was no attempt to engage on issues I had raised as part of my campaign platform.”
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