Barbara Halliday wins Hayward mayor race

Barbara+Halliday+has+served+on+the+Hayward+City+Council+since+2004.

Courtesy | Barbara Halliday

Barbara Halliday has served on the Hayward City Council since 2004.

Yousuf Fahimuddin,
Editor-in-Chief

Hayward Councilmember Barbara Halliday has decisively won the Hayward mayoral election, the Alameda County Registrar of Voters has reported.

Halliday will replace Mayor Michael Sweeney in July, the Hayward Daily Review reported. Salinas will also step down from his position, after having served one term on the council.

Just minutes after midnight, all of the votes were tallied and revealed Barbara Halliday in the lead, with 38.96 percent of the votes. Councilmember Mark Salinas was second, with 31.8 percent of the vote, and Councilmember Francisco Zermeno fell third with 22 percent.

“I want to thank all of the volunteers for coming out and supporting Team Salinas,” said Salinas in a statement shortly after the results were released, conceding the race to Halliday. “We never took one day for granted, we always worked hard for Hayward, and we walked the heck out of the city. Thank you for your support.”

Councilmember Marvin Peixoto survived his re-election bid for the council race, pulling in the most votes to retain his seat. Sara Lamnin, who currently serves on the planning commission, will take Salinas’s soon to be vacant seat.

Measure C won by an overwhelming margin in the polls. 68 percent of voters backed the ballot measure, which promises to build a new state of the art library across from Hayward city hall and convert the current Hayward Main Library into a park.

The ballot measure, which will last 20 years, will generate almost $10 million in funding through a raise in the sales tax by a half-cent to 9.5 percent. Funds are supposed to go toward supporting fire and police services in Hayward, as well as building a new library. However, the city is not legally bound to use the money generated, according to an article by SF Gate.

Rep. Eric Swalwell celebrated his victory in the June primary at The Mexican Restaurant & Bar in Hayward.
Rep. Eric Swalwell celebrated his victory in the June primary at The Mexican Restaurant & Bar in Hayward.

Rep. Eric Swalwell won the primary race easily, getting 49.41 percent. State Sen. Ellen Corbett and Republican Hugh Bussell are in a tight race for second place. Currently results released by the California Secretary of State show that Bussell is currently in the lead, ahead of Corbett by more than 600 votes.

However results are not officially in. It will take weeks before all ballots are counted and finalized.

According to the Federal Election Commission, Bussell spent just $2,800 on his campaign. Corbett, on the other hand, spent nearly $200,000.

Bussell, when contacted, stated he is not fully confident of the results but is excited for November’s election.

“We reached out to people, we talked to people, we got them out to the polls, that really made a difference,” said Bussell of his success in the Congressional primary.

Assemblyman Bill Quirk will also face a Republican challenger in November. Jaime Patino ranked second in the June 3 primary race. Bill Quirk took a commanding victory over Patino, beating him out by more than 40 percent.