Chevron’s $3 million backfires in Richmond election

Richmond voters handed Chevron a resounding rejection in Tuesday’s election, defeating all four candidates supported by the oil giant despite Chevron outspending its opponents by a 20-to-1 margin.

Voters elected City Councilman Tom Butt as mayor and outgoing mayor Gayle McLaughlin, incumbent Jovanka Beckles and retired teacher Eduardo Martinez to the City Council, giving the panel a potential 6-1 left-leaning majority.

“It’s extraordinary. This is a celebration of democracy,” said San Francisco State political science Professor Robert Smith, who studies Richmond politics. “This means that big money doesn’t always win, that ordinary people can defeat huge corporate power.”

Chevron spent more than $3 million supporting Charles Ramsey, Donna Powers and Albert Martinez for council, and longtime Councilman Nat Bates for mayor. Butt won with 51.4 percent of the votes, with Bates trailing at 35.5 percent.

Incumbents Jim Rogers and Corky Boozé also lost. Boozé, who had previously been supported with Chevron money, had been in the news for his ongoing disputes with the city over his salvage yard, as well as his frequent clashes with Beckles, who was a target of harassment during council meetings because she is a lesbian.

Butt, 70, said he was “as surprised as anyone” at the results, noting that in the 2012 council race Bates — with heavy support from Chevron — finished first, nearly 2,000 votes ahead of Butt, who finished second.

“I’ll be honest. When I got in this race, I wasn’t sure I could win it,” Butt said Wednesday. “But I felt I needed to give people a choice … and it looks like Chevron shot themselves in the foot.”

Chevron carpeted the working-class city of 107,000 with television advertisements, billboards and mailers, spending about $72 per registered voter.

The stakes were high for the corporation based in San Ramon. It faces a lawsuit from Richmond over the 2012 refinery fire that could cost the company hundreds of millions, and it must wrangle with the city over ongoing plans to modernize the century-old refinery.

A Chevron spokesman noted that provisional ballots are still being counted, but acknowledged the company’s defeat.

“The voters have spoken, and Chevron will work hard to find common ground with this City Council to push for sound policies that allow Richmond to grow and thrive,” said spokesman Braden Reddell. “This city, which we have proudly called home for more than a century, has far more opportunities than challenges. The council should remain focused on all those opportunities, and Chevron will continue to work to create economic opportunities for all residents.”

The key to defeating Chevron was an aggressive get-out-the-vote campaign by the left-leaning Richmond Progressive Alliance, Smith and others said.

And ultimately, voters were turned off by the excessive spending and the publicity it attracted, they said.

“This was an all-out attempt to destroy the (Richmond Progressive Alliance), and people just said, 'This is too much.’ They were repulsed by it,” Smith said. “That was coupled with an unrivaled effort by the RPA to get out the vote.”

Butt, who is not part of the Richmond Progressive Alliance but shares many of its supporters, said of Chevron: “The amount of money they spent, the national publicity, the obscene amount of mailers, the stupid hit pieces … it all just backfired.”

Bates, 83, will remain on the council and is expected to be the lone dissenter among the left-leaning majority.

He did not answer phone calls Wednesday.

With the council’s new makeup, infighting and rancor should decline and the council is likely to be more efficient, Smith said. But the overall agenda probably won’t change much, he said.

Butt plans to stick with the council's current priorities, which have been crime reduction, job creation and public health improvements, he said.

Beckles, who was the second-place vote-getter in the race for three four-year council seats, was ecstatic Wednesday.

“It’s pretty phenomenal. The people spoke loudly, telling Chevron to stay out of our government,” she said. “We were aware, we were awake, and we fought back against the lies and corporate greed. It’s a beautiful day in Richmond.”

Carolyn Jones is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: carolynjones@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @carolynajones