BERKELEY — Igor Tregub, one of four people running for Berkeley’s District 4 City Council seat, declared victory Tuesday evening after an updated ballot count affirmed his lead in the race.
As of 3:36 p.m. Tuesday, Tregub, policy director at Reimagine Power, led the race with 51.18 percent of votes in a race decided by rank choice voting. In second place is Rubén Hernández Story, chief of staff for District 2 Councilmember Terry Taplin, with 42.82% of the vote. Rent Board Commissioner Soli Alpert and community volunteer Elana Auerbach had been eliminated in earlier rounds of vote tabulations.
“Thank you to every single person who voted for me and donated and volunteered for my campaign. This tremendous victory was only made possible with the help of hundreds of grassroots supporters who know my life’s work and know my values,” Tregub said on social media.
Tregub will replace former Councilmember Kate Harrison as the representative of District 4, which covers downtown and central Berkeley, and currently has a total of 7,453 people registered to vote, according to the county elections office. Harrison resigned earlier this year, citing concerns with city bureaucracy, but is still currently running for mayor. Her resignation came shortly after Rigel Robinson stepped down and suspended his mayoral campaign. Last month, recent UC Berkeley graduate Cecilia Lunaparra won in a special election to replace Robinson.
Once sworn in, Tregub said his priorities will be expanding tenant protections and investments in affordable housing, creating a safe and vibrant downtown, supporting the city’s unhoused, improving multimodal transportation and advocating for climate policies.
“As I make the transition to serving on the City Council, I want everyone in D4 to know that they will have a responsive representative focused on solving our district’s problems and healing the divides in our city,” Tregub said. “Elections come and go; community is what we build in between.”