Politics & Government

Flaherty Wins Pleasant Hill City Council Seat

Tim Flaherty edges fellow planning commissioner Jim Bonato by 108 votes

Planning Commissioner Tim Flaherty has won the third and final City Council seat that was up for grabs in the Nov. 6 election.

The Contra Costa County Clerk's office finished counting provisional and write-in ballots Monday afternoon and updated the vote totals.

Flaherty won by 108 votes. He ended up with 4,698 votes, or 13.61 percent of the total. Fellow commissioner Jim Bonato finished with 4,590 votes, or 13.29 percent.

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Incumbent Councilman David Durant garnered the most votes in the election with 6,285, or 18.20 percent. Ken Carlson was second with 5,703, or 16.52 percent.

Flaherty said he was gratified by the victory.

Find out what's happening in Pleasant Hillwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"Pleasant Hill is lucky to have had so many qualified candidates willing to run for City Council. All ran excellent campaigns and I congratulate all of them," he said in an email to Patch. "Despite the close vote, the order of the three top vote-getters remained static since the vote count began and I did not expect the remaining provisional ballots to change the outcome. I thank all of my supporters and I am excited to begin my service on the City Council."

Bonato said he won't ask for a recount, saying he doesn't think counting ballots again would change the outcome. He also congratulated Flaherty.

"The city is in good hands with the individuals who were elected," said Bonato.

Bonato said he will remain on the Planning Commission and "serve the city in any way I can."

Any candidate wishing to ask for a recount needs to do so by 5 p.m. Friday.


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