Andersen Wins Supervisor's Seat

Danville Mayor Candace Andersen has easily won the race for the District 2 seat on the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors.

With absentee ballots and all 140 precincts reporting, Andersen had gathered 24,692 votes, about 60 percent of the total.

Contra Costa Community College District trustee Tomi Van de Brooke had 11,367 votes, almost 28 percent.

Solar energy professor Sean White was third with 4,828 votes, almost 12 percent.

By finishing above 50 percent, Anderson won the District 2 seat without having to face a runoff election in November.

Her term is scheduled to begin in January. However, Andersen is replacing the late Supervisor Gayle Uilkema, who died last month. Uilkema had already announced she wouldn't seek re-election after 16 years on the board.

Gov. Jerry Brown is expected to appoint someone to fill the remainder of Uilkema's term. Andersen said she would contact the governor's office on Wednesday to ask that she be appointed.

"There's a lot of business that needs to be taken care of," she said.

Andersen also said she was gratified with the large number of votes she received.

"I couldn't be more pleased," Andersen said. "I'm glad my message got out."

Andersen said she felt her years on the Danville Town Council made a difference with voters in these tough economic times.

"I felt experience did matter in this election," said Andersen.

Van de Brooke could not be reached for comment.

White, who raised no money and campaigned against heavily financed political campaigns, said he won if you go by how much money was spent per vote.

"I wanted to get involved and this is how I got involved," he said.

The newly reconfigured supervisor district includes Lamorinda, the San Ramon Valley and parts of Walnut Creek.

Contra Costa County election officials reported a 30 percent turnout in Tuesday's primary. There are 520,000 registered voters in the county and 160,000 of them voted in this election.