Benicia re-elects mayor, splits on tax measures

BENICIA – Benicia Mayor Steve Young appeared to be heading to an easy re-election victory on Tuesday as voters appeared to split on taxes for the city, supporting a second sales tax hike this year but rejecting an effort to raise the city’s property transfer taxes.

Young, who was first elected to the City Council in 2016 and as mayor in 2020, appeared ready to cruise to victory, taking a commanding 66.7% lead over hardware store showroom manager and political newcomer Kevin Kirby, who took 33.3% of the vote, according to preliminary results released on Tuesday night.

Kirby acknowledged Young's apparent victory and congratulated him in a Facebook post on Wednesday. "It was a long shot for me to win, but I am proud of my efforts and I am very thankful to my family, friends and supporters throughout these last few months," he said. "3,500 votes is a significant amount. Now that I have an idea as to what it takes, I will be back."

Young said in a Facebook post on Thursday evening that he felt confident his victory was secured after the latest round of results. "My deep gratitude to all who supported me, and my bled to all to focus on the multiple challenges that confront us in the next four years," he said.

Meanwhile, incumbent City Councilmember Trevor Macenski and former Councilmember Lionel Largaespada were leading two challengers for two open City Council seats, with 32.7% and 31.5% of the vote, respectively.

Macenski and Largaespada took an early lead over Benicia LGBTQIA Network founder Christina Gilpin-Hayes and engineer Franz Rosenthal. With two seats up in the at-large election, two candidates will win. Gilpin-Hayes, who had the support of Young and three other current members of the council, remained within a few percentage points of Largaespada in early returns, but he widened his lead as the night went on. Rosenthal lagged with just over 9% of the vote.

Gilpin-Hayes released a statement on Thursday congratulating Macenski and Largaespada.

"While I wasn’t successful in securing a seat on the Benicia City Council, I have so much to be thankful for and proud of from this experience," she said. "And, while I lost by about 1,000 votes, that margin is actually smaller than it might seem. Given that I’m relatively new to Benicia and was running against long-time residents and current/prior council members, I’m very proud of how close this race was."

Macenski said in a statement Thursday that "this victory belongs to all of us."

"I am here to represent all of you," ha said. "Whether it’s strengthening our local economy, enhancing public safety, preserving our history, or promoting sustainability, I am committed to pushing forward with these goals in a way that reflects the values of our community."

Largaespada, who was previously on the council but defeated two years ago, also acknowledged his apparent victory on Thursday.

"I’m truly humbled and grateful for the trust you’ve placed in me to serve on your City Council," he said in a statement. "I'm excited to get to work each day, focusing on the little things that make life a little better for everyone."

Benicia’s tax measures offered the biggest surprise of the night, with Measure F, a citizen-driven initiative which would raise the city’s sales tax by a half cent except for some grocery store food items, drawing strong support with 62.6% of the vote. 

The measure requires a majority of over 50% to pass. Benicia voters have split over sales tax increases in the past, rejecting a hike in 2022 but overwhelmingly passing a three-quarter-cent sales tax in March. After that hike, the city required a change in state law to raise the sales tax in accordance with Measure F.

However, the city has been grappling with a severe budget shortfall and also proposed to create a limited city charter in order to raise its property transfer tax, which voters were asked to adopt as Measure G. A second measure, Measure H, would actually raise the tax. Both measures were failing as of Tuesday night, with Measure G receiving 46.7% of the vote and Measure H receiving 42.1%.

Benicia voters also elected a new school board representative on Tuesday. Janny Manasse, a senior director of development at UC Berkeley, appeared to defeat Kashanna Harmon-Lee 62.9%-37.1% to represent Area 3, which covers the western portion of Benicia north of Interstate 780. 

Neither had any political experience, but Harmon-Lee had the support of Benicia School Board Area 3 Trustee Gethsemane Moss, who declined to seek reelection, as well as the Benicia Teachers Association and the Progressive Democrats of Benicia.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to include comments from the candidates.