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At 1:00 a.m. the folks down at Loni Hancock for Assembly Headquarters were not only claiming victory — winning more than 50 percent of the preliminary returns in the 14th district assembly race — but were referring to it as a landslide victory. 

“I think it was Margaret Mead that said a small group of committed people can change the world,” Hancock said in a preliminary victory speech. 

‘Our numbers aren’t that small but we change history tonight. This district will continue to be a district that is out in front,” she added, referring to keeping the district a progressive stronghold of the Democratic party. 

Councilmember Betty Olds, a moderate, in some ways echoed Hancock’s perception of victory.  

She stated that who won last night — whether it was Hancock or Charles Ramsey or Dave Brown being a possible for spoiler for either of the two — would indicate whether the district would remain progressive or turn more moderate. Olds stated that though many of the electorate in Berkeley has remained the same for years that the unknown votes in the district which include Richmond, Lafayette and Orinda were key in the race.  

Olds also stated that some pundits were predicting that the district may go more progressive with the change in demographics but that Hancock’s victory may have proven that to be incorrect. 

“This assembly race will indicate whether this area will hold onto to its leftist roots,” Olds said. “I would think it would, but then you have Lafayette and Orinda thrown into it.” 

Olds stated that perhaps the returns in this race indicated that instead of the area becoming more progressive as many had predicted it may in fact simply becoming more of broadly democratic as newer, younger families move into areas such as Lafayette and Orinda which have traditionally been the largest republican bases in the district. 

Hancock, a former Berkeley Mayor, and long-standing member of the local progressive party was all smiles last night, thrilled with the numbers as they rolled in.  

The last reporting at 1:27 a.m. with 100 percent votes counted the race for the Democratic state Assembly race for the 14TH district indicated that Hancock received 16,652 votes (64.8 percent), Charles Ramsey came in second place receiving 6,228 votes (24.2 percent) and Dave Brown had taken in only 2,797 (10.8 percent).  

But at the time there had been no concession phone call from her closest competitor, the El Cerrito attorney and former West Contra Costa School Board member Charles Ramsey.  

Ramsey was unreachable by telephone last night.  

Hancock’s campaign did, however receive calls from Dave Brown and the speaker of the state Assembly Herb Wesson congratulating her on the victory. 

On hand at Hancock’s headquarters were several members of Berkeley City Council including Linda Maio, Dona Spring and Kriss Worthington — all of which worked very aggressively for the campaign. 

Also on hand was outgoing state Assembly member Dion Aroner, D- Berkeley. 

“It’s really great to hand off the baton to a friend,” Aroner said. “And I think we can claim this one. With numbers this good, I think it is fair to say that this race is ours.” 

Of her own political future, Aroner, the Berkeley resident, said she is about 99.9 percent sure she will not run for the position of Berkeley Mayor ( as some have wondered) and that she will run for the state Senate. 

Hancock attributed her victory to having a large base of support and her commitment to the environment. 

“All of us claimed that education was a priority but I think my long history of commitment to the environment really made the difference,” Hancock said.