Key race in City Council election narrows to seven-vote difference

District 3 race will decide which slate has majority
by Yucheng Tang | Posted November 7, 2024

photo by Yucheng Tang
Monica McDaniel at the Green City Coalition watch party on election night.

Nov. 8 UPDATE: The vote gap between Monica McDaniel and Dale Bennett narrowed to just seven votes as of 4:30 p.m. today, with Bennett receiving 3,009 votes and McDaniel 3,002. Updated vote counts will not be available until next week.

Whether challenger Monica McDaniel or incumbent Dale Bennett secures the District 3 seat has become the key question in the 2024 Chico City Council election.

The District 3 candidates are in a tight race; Bennett led McDaniel by only 40 votes Nov. 7, according to the Butte County Clerk-Recorder’s unofficial count that had been updated Nov. 6. The District 3 race will determine which slate will become a majority on the seven-member panel for the next two years. read more

The PAC behind the negative mailers

"A Better Chico" launches attacks on two liberal candidates
by Leslie Layton | Posted October 22, 2024

photo by Karen Laslo
Candidate Bryce Goldstein is attacked in a recent PAC mailer that exploits the problem of homelessness.

It cost the political action committee (PAC) A Better Chico some $14,000 to taint election season with a bitter mood by sending out four mailers that attack two City Council candidates who are running for the District 3 and 7 seats.

The two women, candidates Monica McDaniel and Bryce Goldstein, were each targeted with two mailers that make misleading and false statements that exploit the issue of homelessness by showing pictures of tent encampments, piles of litter and needles.

District 3 candidate McDaniel, who is running against Dale Bennett, the incumbent councilmember supported by A Better Chico, is frustrated. McDaniel calls the mailers “hate-spewing” and says they’re full of “straight-up lies.” read more