Politics & Government
Concord Voted for Obama by a Wide Margin, Clayton Was Split
Newly released numbers for the Nov. 6 election show that it was a close call in Clayton between Obama and Romney, while Concordians voted two-to-one in support of the president's re-election bid.
President Barack Obama defeated Republican challenger Mitt Romney in every incorporated city in Contra Costa County, according to final figures released Monday by the County Registrar of voters. The closest race was in Clayton, while Concord voted two-to-one to re-elect the president.
In total, 442,143 Contra Costa voters cast ballots for Obama. Of those, 290,824 voted for the president and 136,517 voted for Romney.
The narrowest victories for Obama were in Clayton and Danville, while the most overwhelming support came from voters in Richmond and Martinez.
Find out what's happening in Concordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
In Concord, which had a 78 percent turnout, Obama won with 30,475 to Romney’s 14,621. Gary Johnson came next, with 555 votes, followed by Jill Stein with 337. The city had the highest number of votes in the county for Roseanne Barr, with 212 casting ballots in support of the actress and would-be politician.
Voters in Clayton, meanwhile, were divided between the two top candidates by less than 200 votes — Obama won with 3,210 votes, to Romney’s 3,020. Gary Johnson got 67 votes, Jill Stein had 30, Tom Hoefling won 15 and just nine voters opted for Barr. Voter turnout was 85 percent — the fourth highest in the county, behind Orinda, Lafayette and Moraga.
Find out what's happening in Concordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Obama did well in blue collar cities like Martinez, the home of Democratic powerhouse George Miller, where he received 11,641 to Romney’s 5,527, with an 80 percent turnout.
In Walnut Creek, the outcome was also decisive. Of the 36,755 votes cast — and an 84 percent turnout — Obama received 22,918 votes to Romney’s 12,718.
In Danville, with a total of 20,422 votes cast, 11,870 were for Obama and 11,521 were for Romney.
Obama did slightly better in San Ramon, where 81 percent of registered voters there chose Obama 17,410 to Romney’s 11,028.
The president also did well in upper-income cities like Orinda, where he won 7,158 to 3,958 as 86 percent of registered Orindans cast their ballots in this past election.
In the town of Moraga, Obama beat Romney 5,244 to 3,487, with an 85 percent turnout.
Eighty-six percent of Lafayette voters went to the polls and cast 9,001 votes for Obama to 5,174 votes for Romney.
In Pleasant Hill, Obama beat Romney by more than 50 percent, garnering 10,746 votes to Romney’s 4,868.
The 85 percent of El Cerrito voters chose Obama by a 90 percent margin – 10,496 to 1,391.
In Hercules, 77 percent of the voters chose Obama 7,929 to 1,901.
In Pinole, 6,027 votes were cast for Obama, 1,935 for Romney with 79 percent casting votes.
In East County, Antioch (24,105 to 9,262), Brentwood (11,415 to 9,232), Oakley (7,195 to 4,381) and Pittsburg (15,681 to 3,598) all went for Obama, as did Richmond (22,912 to 3,025) and San Pablo (5,365 to 623) in West County.
In unincorporated areas of the county, a total of 43,026 voted for Obama and 25,247 voted for Romney.
All the other presidential candidates on the ballot received less than 4,000 votes each.
UPDATE: Here's the breakdown city-by-city along with a comparison of the 2008 vote for Obama with the 2012 vote.
2008 2012Obama vote change
Obama McCain Obama Romney Antioch 68.5% 29.3% 70.5% 27.1% 2.0% Brentwood 56.7% 41.3% 53.9% 43.6% -2.8% Clayton 54.8% 43.3% 50.4% 47.4% -4.4% Concord 66.2% 31.4% 65.4% 31.4% -0.8% Danville 55.0% 43.4% 49.7% 48.3% -5.2% El Cerrito 84.9% 12.5% 85.0% 11.3% 0.1% Hercules 77.1% 21.5% 79.1% 19.0% 2.0% Lafayette 67.2% 30.5% 61.8% 35.5% -5.4% Martinez 67.7% 29.5% 65.5% 31.1% -2.3% Moraga 62.7% 35.1% 58.5% 38.9% -4.2% Oakley 60.8% 36.8% 60.1% 36.6% -0.7% Orinda 67.2% 30.7% 62.6% 34.6% -4.6% Pinole 71.9% 25.9% 73.7% 23.7% 1.8% Pittsburg 77.1% 21.0% 79.7% 18.3% 2.5% Pleasant Hill 69.1% 28.2% 66.3% 30.0% -2.8% Richmond 87.7% 10.5% 88.5% 9.0% 0.8% San Pablo 85.8% 12.2% 87.7% 10.2% 1.9% San Ramon 62.0% 36.1% 59.9% 37.9% -2.1% Walnut Creek 65.1% 32.7% 62.8% 34.8% -2.3% COUNTY 67.7% 30.1% 66.2% 31.1% -1.5%Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
