Antioch Mayor Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe appears to be losing race to keep seat

ANTIOCH, Calif. - Antioch could see a new mayor in the coming year as the race for the top position in the city was hard fought with three candidates offering different solutions to the community’s challenges.

Incumbent Mayor Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe is facing an uphill battle with the current vote counts. Former City Manager Ron Bernal declared victory just before noon on Tuesday, but the official results have not yet been released. 

As of 1 a.m. on Wednesday, Hernandez-Thorpe had 7,903 votes and Bernal had nearly twice that: 16,765.

In a video posted Tuesday night, Hernandez-Thorpe faced the tough reality that he would likely lose the election.

"I’m not winning this evening," he said on the video, "and I probably will not win as they continue to count the votes. I will leave Antioch in a stronger place than I found it, and I can confidently tell you that because I have the receipts."

The battle for the mayor’s chair in the city of Anticoch began with three men, and the community is still waiting to see who will lead them through the coming years.

The third candidate, Rakesh Kumar Christian, has garnered 1,812 as of Wednesday.

Hernandez-Thorpe has been in the role since 2020, and he has said though Antioch has struggles, it is now in a rebuilding era. 

Bernal campaigned on how he hopes to improve public safety as the city struggles with crime.

Antioch has faced growing struggles during Hernandez-Thorpe’s tenure, with much of his term spent handling a racist texting scandal within the Antioch Police Department. 

Antioch residents KTVU spoke with on Thursday say they are ready for a change. 

"I’ve lived here my whole life, a lot of changes, the city has grown for sure and it’s a different city than the one I grew up in," Ashley Jewell told KTVU. "I think it’s time for a shift. We’ve seen a lot more crime in the past couple of years. I think there needs to be a change in police as well."

"I voted for Ron, I’m ready for positive change. Antioch has gone down in the past years, and not for the good and I’m just excited that Ron won," Yoli Rangel told KTVU. 

It's not exactly clear when all the votes will be counted.