Edwards retains slight lead over Mansell in race for Healdsburg City Council seat

Residents of Healdsburg will have to wait a bit longer to learn who will be the 5th and final member of their city council

Following Tuesday afternoon’s updated election results, the retired caterer and cannabis farmer Ron Edwards retained a slender lead over Brigette Manselle, a former public school teacher who served on the council from 2014-2018.

They are the top rivals for a 2-year term to fill the vacancy left open by the sudden resignation in May of Skylaer Palacios. The two four-year seats on the city council were won by former Healdsburg Mayor Evelyn Mitchell, and first-time candidate Chris Herrod.

Edwards had 46.11% of the vote, to Manselle’s 44.62% in updated returns Tuesday. He led by 47 votes out of 3,158 counted so far in the three-way race. Despite seeing his lead shrink by 7 votes from the previous tally, Edwards said he was “cautiously optimistic” that he will emerge victorious.

Part of that optimism comes from poring over results already tabulated. The two candidates in the race who are people of color, Edwards and Matthew Lopez, Jr., “are actually gaining a little better in precincts 4401 and 4402” – two of the larger precincts, Edwards said.

Those areas include larger percentages of younger voters, and minority voters, Edwards said.

“So, yes, I am optimistic.”

Despite consistently trailing since election night, Mansell said “I remain hopeful. I have faith that I can still do it.”

While the long wait can, at times, be “excruciating,” she said, “this is what democracy’s all about — waiting until all the votes are counted.”

Deva Proto, Sonoma County’s election chief, said Tuesday an estimated 60,000 ballots countywide were left to be processed, which would put turnout at about 66%.

Asked if there was any way to know how many more ballots remained to be tallied in this race, Proto replied by text, “I can’t say how many are outstanding in any specific area until we actually process them. But we are still signature checking ballots.”

Her office will be posting another update on Friday.

Edwards is still waiting for digital verification that his ballot has been received.

“So I know I’ve still got at least one vote out there,” he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Austin Murphy at austin.murphy@pressdemocrat.com or on Twitter @ausmurph88.