Fairfax Elects Bragman and O'Neil

Read at the bottom for live updates from election night.

Fairfax voters appear satisfied with the status quo, electing both incumbent Mayor Larry Bragman and Planning Commissioner Ryan O’Neil, who has been in support of much of the what the council does.

Bragman, a lawyer, was elected to a third term with 44% of the vote, while O'Neil took 41.7%. Measure D, the half-cent sales tax that both O'Neil and Bragman supported and campaigned for, also passed with 64.6% of the vote - despite a vigorous critique and debate going on in the weeks leading up to the election.

"We're happy and proud and feeling pretty lucky to be a part of a community that did what it did," said Bragman, commending the town for going against the grain of deeper cuts and economic anger right now.

Throughout the election, Bragman emphasized the need for Fairfax residents to participate in the democratic process and preserve the community feel of the town.

O’Neil, running for his first term, also frequently said he was in support of many of the council’s decisions and thought a half-cent sales tax was necessary to address Fairfax’s fiscal solvency.

Both said they were nervous the No on D campaign and anti-incumbent sentiment might win the day.

"I never took any of it for granted," said O'Neil, who seemed like a shoo-in, with much of the current council's support.

The odd man out in the Fairfax race was Chris Lang, who argued that the town needed to clean up it’s fiscal mess before passing another tax and criticized the council’s ineffectiveness.

Lang, though, was unable to recover from concerns about and lost his third run for the council with just 13.4% of the vote.

The new council members will be sworn in at a special Fairfax council meeting on Nov. 30 at 7 p.m. at the Women's Club and O'Neil encouraged residents to get involved and participate at council meetings, so that their voices will be heard.

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The following is from election night on Nov. 8.

Welcome to San Anselmo-Fairfax Patch’s Election Night update for the Fairfax Council race.

It’s an exciting night for the candidates and their supporters, who have logged many hours on the campaign trail for the past few months. Congratulations to all the candidates — Larry Bragman, Chris Lang, and Ryan O'Neil — for working so hard to state their platforms and for their willingness to serve in a mostly thankless capacity on our behalf.

This story will be updated and saved regularly until all precincts are reported by the Marin County registrar’s office. We’ll check in with the candidates to hear how they’re feeling about everything, and try to upload photos from campaign parties around town as they are sent in. Anybody with a camera at one of those get-togethers can send shots to kellyd@patch.com or upload them directly to this story.

Check our for automatically updated results on all Marin races as soon as they come in to the registrar's office.

UPDATES

10:10 p.m.

With 80% of the precincts reporting, it looks like Bragman and O'Neil will win the two seats. Bragman has 44% of the vote and O'Neil has 41%, while Lang trails with only 13.4%.

Look for analysis and comments from your new council in the coming hour.

9:30 p.m.

Only one of the five precincts in Fairfax is reporting, but Bragman (42.5%) and O'Neil (41% of the votes) appear to be pulling far ahead of business owner and bike advocate Chris Lang, who only has 15.35%.

8:45 p.m.

First results came in just after 8 p.m. with only mail-in votes counted and no precincts reporting.

Currently, Bragman leads with 42.6% of the votes, O'Neil follows with 40.8% of the reported votes and Lang - who diverged most from the other two candidates - trails with 15.39%.

Bragman and O'Neil are watching the returns with supporters and the Yes on Measure D campaign, while Lang is keeping an eye on the results with his friends and family. We'll check back in with the candidates throughout the night for their reactions.

What do you think of the results so far?