Standing at the corner of 18th Street and Cavallo Road, Antioch Mayor-elect Ron Bernal shook his head as the manager of a tire shop showed Bernal his white work van. There, dotting the side of the vehicle, were bullet holes from one of several recent shootings in the area.
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“I’m very motivated,” Bernal said. “Public safety is my No. 1 thing.”
Not long ago, Bernal was enjoying a peaceful retirement with his wife and grandkids. Now, after defeating controversial incumbent Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe in the Nov. 5 election, he faces one of the most daunting challenges in Bay Area politics.
Antioch, Contra Costa County’s second-largest city, has become symbolic of the changing fortunes of American suburbs. Once a rural community with little crime and a bustling downtown, it now grapples with all the problems of a chaotic metropolis: gun violence, homelessness, a crumbling local economy, racial tension, even corruption.
Voters in Antioch, where about three-fourths of the nearly 120,000 residents are people of color, sent a strong message at the ballot box that it was time for a new era. In a stunning reversal, they replaced the City Council’s progressive Black majority with a white mayor (former city manager Bernal), a white council member (former Mayor Don Freitas) and a Latino council member (longtime high school administrator Louie Rocha).
The shift toward more conservative leadership underscored just how far Bay Area voters are willing to go to address their concerns over public safety. Freitas and Rocha are expected to regularly vote in alignment with Bernal at council meetings, giving them the necessary 3-2 majority to implement new policies. Among their immediate priorities: reducing crime and stabilizing a scandal-prone police department.
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