Of the four candidates seeking to be the next mayor of Petaluma, two sitting City Council members were the odds-on favorites going into Tuesday’s election.
But by Wednesday morning, Kevin McDonnell had it all but sown up, with a more than 2-1 lead over his closest competitor, D’Lynda Fischer.
Even then McDonnell was reluctant to call it. “I have confidence the trend will hold,” he said Wednesday. “But I’m certainly not declaring until I see more data.”
County election officials said the next updated vote count was not expected until Friday.
The numbers were reportedly enough for Fischer to call it, however, as McDonnell said she texted him her congratulations Wednesday. Fischer was not immediately available for comment post-election.
As of Wednesday, with about a third of the votes counted across Sonoma County, McDonnell held what looked to be an insurmountable lead with 55.6% of the vote to Fischer’s 23.7%, out of a total 11,574 votes counted so far in the race.
The other two candidates, Patrick Flower and Susan Kirks, trailed Fischer with 12.6% and 8.1% of the vote, respectively.
Fischer and her supporters gathered Tuesday night at Barber Cellars Tasting Room on East Washington Street to celebrate what the candidate called a “campaign of change,” referring to the many new residents that had moved to Petaluma since she and McDonnell first ran for City Council four years ago.
Fischer, who was instrumental in bringing a million-dollar Cool City Challenge grant to Petaluma, said she would continue the fight against climate change — her signature issue — by merging Petaluma’s policy and community in a “synergy of working together.”
That same night at the Petaluma Woman’s Club on B Street, McDonnell said he would continue to focus on what he considered to be Petaluma’s weak points: homelessness, housing and the quality of city streets.
That happened to correspond with predictions made by Brian Sobel, a well-known political consultant and former Petaluma councilman.
“Homelessness is a huge issue. I think we can’t seem to bury any of these traffic issues, so circulation traffic. And housing is a big issue,” he said in an interview before the election. “So that’s the local thing.”
Sobel added that across the nation, “safety has become a huge issue. And I know this empirically from seeing polling.”
“It’s not borne out statistically,” he added. “But on all these social media platforms, you would think we’re in a crime wave.”
McDonnell on Wednesday said he was winding down from the pressure of a hard-fought campaign.
“I sure had a wonderful crew of volunteers who helped me on so many levels,” he said. “All the walking that was done, and all the house parties that were held, was really helpful.”
Don Frances is editor of the Petaluma Argus-Courier. Reach him at don.frances@arguscourier.com.
