Concord Council Incumbents Lead Early Election Returns While District 3 Remains Too Close to Call
Early election returns from Tuesday night show longtime Concord City Councilmember Laura Hoffmeister and Mayor Laura Nakamura leading their respective reelection bids, while an open seat in District 3 remains in a closely contested four-person race.
Concord shifted to district-based elections in 2018, and voters across Districts 1, 3, and 5 weighed in on municipal leadership on Tuesday. In District 1, covering the city’s northeast side, Laura Hoffmeister held 53% of the vote in early returns released by Contra Costa County elections officials. Hoffmeister, who was first elected to the council in 1997, is seeking her seventh reelection.
Two challengers stepped up to contest Hoffmeister’s seat: Maria Bagley, a finance manager at West County Wastewater, and Tricia Brazil, a real estate business owner. Both opponents centered their candidate statements on the long-delayed redevelopment of the former Concord Naval Weapons Station. Early tallies showed Bagley capturing roughly 31% of the vote, with Brazil trailing at nearly 16%.
The Battle for District 3
While the incumbent races leaned in one direction, the contest to replace Dominic Aliano in District 3 turned into a nail-biter. Aliano chose not to run for reelection in the southwestern district, which encompasses the Monument Boulevard corridor and major shopping centers.
According to initial results, Robyn Kuslits held a razor-thin lead of just 12 votes over Dena Acosta Beere. Kuslits secured 562 votes compared to Acosta Beere’s 550. Don Seta followed closely with 500 votes, while Douglas Lezameta drew 363 votes. The candidates bring diverse professional backgrounds to the ballot, including Kuslits as a U.S. Navy veteran, substitute teacher, and non-profit leader; Acosta Beere as a mother and community volunteer; Seta as a retired U.S. Air Force program manager; and Lezameta as the CEO of a behavioral health clinic.
Nakamura Leads Corio in District 5 Mayoral Race
In District 5 on the city’s eastern end, Mayor Laura Nakamura maintained a commanding lead over challenger Aeysha Corio. Nakamura, elected to the council in 2022 and appointed mayor earlier this year through the council’s annual rotation, secured nearly 62% of the vote in early returns. Corio, a Concord Planning Commission member and small business owner backed by prominent local officials including Hoffmeister and Aliano, captured 38%.
The newly seated council members will steer the city through the massive multi-decade transformation of the 2,225-acre Concord Naval Weapons Station property. Plans for the site anticipate more than 12,000 new residential units.
County elections officials reported that Tuesday night’s initial tallies encompassed counted vote-by-mail ballots and in-person early voting figures, representing roughly half of the total expected votes from the county’s 733,037 registered voters. Friday.
