06 Nov Freitas Calls Antioch Council Outcome ‘a Clean Sweep for New Leadership’

The final election night results show Ron Bernal in first with just over 63% of the vote for mayor of Antioch. (Ron Bernal via Bay City News)

By Aly Brown
Bay City News

Final election night updates showed Ron Bernal holding his lead for Antioch mayor with Louie Rocha and Donald Freitas still likely to secure the two open City Council seats.

“I’m optimistic and hopeful to become a member of the new City Council majority,” said Rocha.

The Contra Costa County Registrar of Voters provided a final update for election night at 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, but results won’t be officially certified until early December.

Bernal received 63.26% of the vote over his opponents, incumbent Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe (29.82%) and Rakesh Christian (6.84%).

As a former Antioch city manager with more than three decades of public service experience, Bernal ran on a campaign that prioritized addressing the city’s crime and homelessness crises while improving the local economy.

In District 2, Rocha continued to lead with 60.98% of the vote over his opponent Dominique King, who secured 38.78%.

Rocha has said his top priorities would be to improve public safety, address homelessness and build new economic development.

“I think that the city of Antioch must become a regional partner in addressing the needs of our growing number of homeless community,” he said.

For the District 3 council seat, final election night results showed Freitas (51.54%) ahead of Addison Peterson (28.15%) and Antwon Webster (20.26%).

“The citizens of Antioch wanted change — with Ron Bernal as the new mayor, Louie Rocha a new council member in District 2 and me in District 3,” Freitas said. “This is a clean sweep for new leadership.”

Copyright © 2024 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area.