Kemnitzer, Block, Lynch cruising to victory in Belvedere council race

In Belvedere, Mayor Nancy Kemnitzer, along with challengers Steve Block and James Lynch, have emerged as the top vote-getters in a four-way race for three seats on the City Council, defeating challenger Chelsea Schlunt.

As of Nov. 4, Kemnitzer, an incumbent poised for her second term on the council, is tied with Block, each with 517 votes on the 804 ballots cast in the election, or 64.3-percent support. Lynch follows with 475 votes, or 59.1 percent.

Schlunt trails with 262 votes, or 32.6 percent.

The Marin Elections Department is still counting more than 50,000 vote-by-mail and provisional ballots countywide — about a third of all ballots cast — with turnout expected to be about 90 percent. Totals will be updated by 5 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays beginning Nov. 6.

Kemnitzer, 68, is set to retire from her job as a law partner at Kemnitzer, Barron & Krieg next year. She was first elected to the council in 2016 after running unopposed.

Block, 59, is an attorney who does pro-bono work for Marin groups, including nonprofits 10,000 Degrees, the Canal Alliance and Marin Legal Aid. He’s a member of the Belvedere Block Captains Program and serves as a Belvedere Community Foundation trustee. Lynch, 53, is a retired partner at the legal firm Latham & Watkins and has served on the Belvedere Planning Commission since 2014. He also chairs the city’s Committee to Protect Belvedere’s Seawalls, Levees and Utilities and is board president of The Redwoods senior community in Mill Valley.

They will take the seats of two-term councilmembers Bob McCaskill and Claire McAuliffe, who were eligible to run again, but it’s customary for Belvedere councilmembers to not seek a third term.