Watch: Local expert on results in North Bay, California and national elections

Sonoma State political science professor David McCuan joined Press Democrat reporters Phil Barber and Paulina Pineda and deputy editor Brett Wilkison for a Wednesday morning post-election recap.

The four discussed the early returns for local matchups, including Windsor, Petaluma, Rohnert Park and Santa Rosa, where Council member Victoria Fleming and challenger Terry Sanders remained neck and neck in the four-way race for the District 4 seat.

If Sanders’ slim lead holds, McCuan noted, he face the difficult pivot of capitalizing on differences with Fleming on the campaign trail, where he was critical of Santa Rosa’s council, to governing with the six other council members.

Nationally, McCuan’s observed “That red wave didn’t appear — looks like a red trickle,“ in reference to Republicans making modest gains in Congress in the midterm election.

He also weighed in on the growing diversity of elected officials across the country and here in the North Bay.