Ben Barrientos Wins Livermore District 2 as Ro Khanna Draft Launches

Municipal election results in Livermore, national political organizing around an East Bay congressman, and shifting November weather patterns are headlining Tri-Valley and regional news. In Livermore's lone contested City Council race—where Mayor John Marchand and Councilmember Evan Branning ran unopposed—incumbent District 2 Councilmember Ben Barrientos won re-election with 69.34% of the vote (2,691 votes) to challenger Narayan Tadimeti's 30.66% (1,190 votes) with 100% of precincts reporting.

First elected in 2022, Barrientos—an educator and wrestling coach—campaigned on protecting Livermore's urban growth boundary, completing Springtown Community Park, expanding arts funding, and relocating the proposed Eden Housing Project north of Railroad Avenue. Tadimeti, a pulmonary and sleep medicine physician, focused on housing affordability, road traffic, and preserving agricultural open space. In the Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District Board of Trustees races, technology finance professional Tara Boyce won Area 2 after regional sales manager Stephen Orgain conceded Wednesday with a roughly 1,300-vote gap. Meanwhile, data analyst Angela Brady and retired teacher Kristie Gibson remained locked in a close contest in Area 3, while incumbent trustee Christiaan VandenHeuvel held a narrow 80-vote lead in Area 5 over fellow 2024 at-large trustee Deena Kaplanis and construction project manager Sam Phelps.

On the national political stage, allies of Silicon Valley and East Bay Representative Ro Khanna launched a 2028 presidential draft committee named Run Ro, co-chaired by former New York Representative Jamaal Bowman and progressive strategist Nomiki Konst. Khanna, a fifth-term Democrat who co-chaired Senator Bernie Sanders's 2020 presidential campaign and recently partnered across the aisle with Republican Representatives Thomas Massie and Marjorie Taylor Greene on government transparency, welcomed the effort on a platform of Medicare for All, ending foreign wars, and taxing billionaires, stating he will decide with his family after the holidays whether to enter the 2028 race. Historical records note that only 1 sitting House member—James Garfield in 1880—has ever been elected president directly from the chamber.

Across the region, National Weather Service meteorologist Rachel Kennedy reported that building high pressure is bringing a warming trend with interior highs reaching the mid to upper 70s and pockets of 80s in the southern Santa Clara Valley before rain returns past November 11. At the coast, a Beach Hazard Statement warns of sneaker waves, rip currents, and breaking waves of 12 to 16 feet through Saturday, paired with a Coastal Flood Advisory from 6 a.m. Wednesday through 1 p.m. Monday for up to 1.6 feet of inundation along low-lying areas of the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Monterey bays.