Challenger Dan Albert Jr. unseats Downey, Haffa hangs on for Monterey City Council.

At Monterey City Council candidate Dan Albert Jr.’s home near Via Paraiso Park in the hills of Monterey, nearly two dozen supporters gather for an election night party. While friendly faces mingle over cold cuts, crudité, flat bread and wine, most eyes are glued to the flat-screen TV in his living room.

The election map on the screen shows voters in the United States putting their weight behind Donald Trump, creating an uneasiness in the room. A picture of Albert’s smiling face on the bottom ticker shows he’s leading in the Monterey City Council race with just over 35 percent of the vote. It almost goes unnoticed until an observant guest sitting on the couch points it out.

Albert then addresses his audience. He reads the preliminary results from the Monterey County Elections Department website aloud from his smartphone: Dan Albert Jr. in the lead, Councilmember Alan Haffa in second with 32.8 percent and Councilmember Libby Downey’s seat in jeopardy with 31.8 percent. While 90 percent of of the vote has yet to be counted, his early lead is greeted with cheers. These results would hold for the rest of the night.

“We started with a grassroots effort, we put together a committee of 25 people and started walking the neighborhoods,” says Albert, who raised more than $36,000—more than twice the incumbents Downey and Haffa combined.

Earlier in the night, at Downey’s campaign party on Alvarado Street with roughly 20 of her supporters, the three-term councilmember doesn’t seem optimistic of her chances for re-election.

“This has been the hardest campaign so far, but if I lose, I’m OK with that,” Downey says with a slight twang of her North Carolina roots. “I stood up for what I felt was right.”

Downey and Haffa faced the wrath of Fisherman’s Wharf business owners for their support of modernizing the city’s leasing guidelines.

“There was so much misinformation coming from Wharf businesses, it was hard to set the record straight,” she continues.

Haffa flew solo for the night, without an election party of his own. Haffa, a delegate for Bernie Sanders and member of the Monterey County Democratic Central Committee, doesn’t feel the excitement that he normally would after victory in a hard-fought campaign.

“Tonight’s pretty disappointing in a lot of ways, but I’m happy to see Measure Z passed,” Haffa says, noting the then looming Trump victory and Downey’s loss.

“Libby’s an independent voice,” Haffa says. “If she loses she will definitely be missed.”