More than two weeks after Election Day, the City of Berkeley has finally tabulated the votes and determined that its new mayor will be former League of Women Voters chapter president Adena Ishii, the city’s first Asian American mayor.
If you think San Francisco took a long time to determine the winners of its elective offices, we will point out that the City of Berkeley took more than two weeks to determine the winner of its mayoral race. But we do now have a winner as of Wednesday night, as the Chronicle reports that political newcomer Adena Ishii has defeated Vice Mayor Sophie Hahn, in a super-close upset 51%-49% victory where Ishii came in ahead by a mere 1,039 votes in ranked-choice tabulation.
Adena Ishii, a newcomer to city politics, was elected Berkeley’s next mayor – beating out two veterans of the city’s political scene, according to the latest results released Wednesday. https://t.co/acVlo1BCqR
— San Francisco Chronicle (@sfchronicle) November 21, 2024
Berkeleyside points out that Ishii will be Berkeley’s first ever Asian American mayor, as well as the first woman of color to be Mayor of Berkeley.
Huge upset in the Berkeley mayoral racehttps://t.co/xfHruwXbup
— Natalie Orenstein (@nat_orenstein) November 21, 2024
Ishii has never run for or held office before, though has been an educational nonprofit consultant and is a former president of the League of Women Voters Berkeley Albany Emeryville chapter. She’ll take over as mayor as Berkeley struggles with a contentious People’s Park redevelopment and its new controversial encampment sweeps.
“My message in this campaign was that we needed a reset at City Hall, that we had had two City Council members resign, citing that city politics had become broken and toxic,” Ishii said in an interview with KQED. “We needed someone who was going to be focused on the issues.”
'My message was that we needed a reset at City Hall, that we had had two City Council members resign, citing that city politics had become broken and toxic. We needed someone who was going to be focused on the issues.' #berkeley via @KQEDnews https://t.co/RscpFwvxl1
— Dan Brekke (@danbrekke) November 21, 2024
KTVU notes that Vice Mayor Hahn was the heavy favorite, and initially held the lead in the Election Night results. But Hahn fell behind in the later ranked-choice rounds, and conceded Wednesday night.
"With the new release of numbers today, the results of this race are clear: Adena Ishii has been chosen by the people of Berkeley to be your next Mayor," Hahn said in a Wednesday email to supporters. "Just a few moments ago I called to congratulate her, and wish her the very best as she navigates our City through what are likely to be challenging times for our country, and our community."
Ishii takes over for current Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin, who’s been in office for the last eight years, but was just elected to represent his district in the state Senate.
Related: Berkeley Voters on Edge as Mail-In Ballots Never Showed Up, May Have Been Stolen [SFist]
Image: Adena Ishii, Former Candidate for Berkeley Mayor 2024 via Facebook
