Progressives take big council lead

In a decisive result, two progressive-leaning challengers jumped out to a large lead for a seat on the Petaluma City Council. A political veteran was fending off a spirited challenge for the third and final seat in a race seen as defining how the city will grow and develop in the next decade.

In preliminary results reported by the Sonoma County Registrar of voters, challengers Brian Barnacle and Dennis Pocekay, and incumbent Mike Healy were the top three vote-getters with 96% of precincts reporting. Challenger Lizzie Wallack was in fourth place, just 374 votes behind Healy.

“It feels great,” said Barnacle, an environmental and urban planning consultant. “What made me successful is that I talked to people and I listened. We found out that Petaluma voters were ready for a change.”

As of Wednesday morning, Barnacle had 21.19%; Pocekay had 19.45%; Healy had 13.32%; and Wallack had 12.75%, according to the Registrar of Voters. Two other incumbents, Kathy Miller and Gabe Kearney, were in fifth and sixth place, respectively with 12.18% and 9.68%. Susan Kirks had 5.79% and Robert Conklin had 5.62%.

“I’m very thankful to the community for all the support,” said Pocekay, a former physician who ran unsuccessfully last year. “I think this is going to be the hardest job I’ve ever had, but I’m looking forward to it.”

Healy, a Petaluma attorney who has been on the city council for two decades, said he was waiting for more results to come in.

“It’s too early to draw any conclusions,” he said after the initial results were reported. “A lot of people haven’t been heard from yet.”

Wallack, an architectural consultant making her first bid for elected office, said she was excited by the early returns.

“It’s a nail-biter,” she said. “I’m feeling hopeful.”

The contentious race shaped up as a contest between the three moderate incumbents running as a slate against a trio of progressive challengers. At stake is a seat at the table as Petaluma updates its General Plan, the document that defines the future of development in the city. The current General Plan was adopted in 2008.

Development emerged as a key campaign theme. Throughout the race the challengers attempted to claim the environmental mantle and portray the incumbents as being too soft on developers they say have proposed environmentally damaging projects.

The incumbents said more development is needed to help solve the region’s housing crisis, and they said they worked with developers to extract benefits for the city.

“The opponents have done a skillful job of painting the incumbents as very developer-friendly and as indifferent to what neighbors want,” said Brian Sobel, a Petaluma political consultant. “They have been skillful at creating a narrative, and in politics, that’s everything.”

The decisive victory for Barnacle and Pocekay can be seen as a repudiation of the city’s current direction. It also sets up a strong progressive bloc on the Petaluma City Council after progressive candidates D’Lynda Fischer, Kevin McDonnell and Mayor Teresa Barrett won seats in 2018.

More than two-thirds of Sonoma County voters cast ballots before Election Day, a record early turnout driven by changes due to the coronavirus pandemic. Still, the county offered limited in-person voting, including at four sites in Petaluma.

At Hermann Sons Hall, a polling place on Western Avenue, Frances Frazier, a retired teacher, said she voted for Barnacle, Pocekay and Wallack because of their environmental policies.

“It was their position on climate, their commitment to honest policies, their promise that they will make Petaluma a good place to live,” she said. “They really walk their talk.”

(Contact Matt Brown at matt.brown@arguscourier.com.)