Incumbents win Solano County Sheriff, DA’s race

FAIRFIELD – Solano County District Attorney Krishna Abrams and Sheriff Tom Ferrara took commanding leads in Tuesday’s  primary election and appeared poised to be reelected to another four-year term each, according to unofficial results released by the Solano County Registrar of Voters.

After nearly 35,000 mail-in votes and roughly 6,300 Election Day votes were tallied early on election night, Abrams led Chief Deputy DA Sharon Henry 61%-39% while Ferrara led retired Deputy Daryl Snedeker 70%-30%. Both incumbents had raised substantially more money than their opponents.

There were still about 22,000 vote by mail ballots left to be counted at 11 p.m. and the county will continue accepting ballots postmarked by election day until June 14. Henry would need to win about 70% of the remaining ballots and Snedeker would need to win 89% to prevail. Otherwise, Abrams and Ferrara, who both first won election in 2014, will enter their third full term.

Henry conceded the election in a post to Instagram on Wednesday afternoon. "Let it be resoundingly clear that we did not lose," Henry wrote. "We won by standing up and supporting what is right."

Abrams had recruited Henry to be her chief deputy after she won election against the previous DA in 2014. But Henry sued the county in August, alleging that when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Abrams retaliated against her for working remotely because of her age and her medical history, which put her at higher risk of severe complications from COVID.

Henry said she ran in part because of Abrams’ decision to recuse herself from investigating the Vallejo police shootings of Willie McCoy in 2019 and Sean Monterrosa in 2020, leaving those decisions to a special prosecutor and the state Attorney General’s Office, respectively.

Snedeker had previously run for sheriff in 2018, coming in third with 21% of the vote. Snedeker previously told the Vallejo Sun that he ran because he believed the sheriff’s office should be doing more to help the most vulnerable people in the county, particularly in the jail, and that while he was in the sheriff’s office, he witnessed a lack of accountability and transparency under the current administration.

In another contested race in the county, the Board of Supervisors District 3 seat appears to be headed for a runoff. The office will be vacated by Jim Spering, who decided not to seek reelection. In a five-way race, no candidate appeared able to cross a 50% threshold needed to win.

Early returns also showed Suisun City Councilmember Wanda Williams led with 33%, followed by Fairfield Councilmember Chuck Timm with 29%. Former Suisun City Mayor Pete Sanchez was in third with 17%.

In the newly formed 8th Congressional District — which covers Vallejo, Richmond, Fairfield and Antioch — U.S. Rep. John Garamendi appeared poised to hold onto his seat with 62% of the vote. The closest of five challengers was Republican business owner Rudy Recile with 26%.

Editors note: This article was updated with the latest election results as of 10:51 p.m. and Henry's concession statement on Wednesday.