After months of talk about public safety issues, homelessness and road safety — which most candidates discussed as their pressing concerns for Bakersfield leading up to Tuesday — the voters have cast their ballots.Â
As in most races, the results for the two Bakersfield City Council seats up for grabs, wards 3 and 7, were still preliminary as of press time.Â
In Ward 3, which is in the city's northeast, incumbent Councilman Ken Weir is seeking a fifth term. He's being challenged by Boyd Binninger, a longtime local commercial Realtor, and Lonnie Daddow, a retired electrical engineer and business owner.
Zeferino Barron indicated after he qualified for the ballot that he was no longer interested in running and instead threw his support behind Binninger.Â
With 86 percent of precincts reporting late Tuesday, Weir led the race with 51.8 percent of the vote, or 1,635 votes. Binninger trailed with 32.3 percent, or 1,021 votes; Daddow had 8.6 percent, or 271 votes. Barron had 7.3 percent, or 231 votes, in the early numbers.Â
The Ward 7 race was unique in that there was no incumbent because Chris Parlier announced his plans to not seek reelection over the summer, leaving three candidates to duke it out for his spot in the southern end of the city.
Tim Collins, Raj Gill and Manpreet Kaur all campaigned for the seat, and with 37.5 percent of precincts reporting, Kaur garnered an early lead with 57.4 percent, or 1,571 votes, as of the first returns. Collins had 33.9 percent (927 votes) and Gill had 8.7 percent (238 votes).
Two incumbents running unopposed were set to sail through a relatively stress-free election night: Eric Arias, who represents Ward 1 in the southeastern part of the city, and Bob Smith, who represents Ward 4 in the city's northwestern end.
Smith has been on the council since 2012, and Arias is set to start his first full term when the next slate of council members are sworn in. Arias joined the council in 2020 to complete the term of Willie Rivera.
"I am so grateful to voters for supporting our community-driven work in southeast Bakersfield," Arias said in a statement on Election Day. "I am looking forward to working with the winners of tonight's election to continue delivering for hard-working families in Bakersfield."
