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. 

As of 1 a.m. on Wednesday, Hernandez-Thorpe had 7,903 votes and former City Manager Ron 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. 

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