At a city council meeting on Nov. 17, Barnes stepped up to the podium, conceded defeat and congratulated the winners.

"I met a lot of great people during the election and I got more than 7,000 votes, which is nearly 50 percent of the vote," said Barnes, who had earlier indicated that he would concede only at the end of the month.

But in the last week, as more absentee and provisional ballots were counted in Santa Clara County, Mayor Waltonsmith widened the gap between her and Barnes to 323 votes. Waltonsmith led Barnes by about 95 votes in the days right after the election.

Kao currently leads the vote count with 7,849 votes, followed by Waltonsmith with 7,395 and Barnes with 7,072.

Barnes said that he was happy that the utility tax measure had been defeated. "That was one of my main campaign planks. I won the battle but lost the war," said Barnes.

He said that he hoped that the North Campus issue would be resolved soon. "It could be sub-divided and part of the property could be sold," he said.

Barnes did not rule out running for the election again.