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The race to represent Silicon Valley in Congress tightened Tuesday afternoon, March 12, as the latest batch of election results showed State Assembly member Evan Low picking up ground and nearly eliminating the gap between himself and Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian.
Both Simitian and Low trail former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, who held a commanding lead with 21.5% of the votes in the 16th Congressional District as of 4:30 p.m. on March 12. But Simitian, who enjoyed a lead of 17.9% to 15.9% over Low on the night of the primary election, saw his edge all but evaporate a week later. Simitian had received 27,384 votes as of the evening of March 12, or 16.8% of the total. Low had received 27,222 votes, or 16.7%.
Most of the Low’s momentum came from Santa Clara County, which includes Low’s hometown of Campbell, where he served as mayor. Low also received significant support from nearby cities of Saratoga and Los Gatos, while Simitian did particularly well in Palo Alto, Mountain View and Menlo Park.
While Simitian led in both Santa Clara and San Mateo counties on election day, Low had since pulled ahead in Santa Clara with 23,542 votes, compared to Simitian’s 22,504 votes. Simitian, meanwhile, leads Low in San Mateo County by a vote count of 4,880 to 3,680.
And even though Simitian has been in second place since March 5, his advantage has steadily gone down, dropping to 739 votes as of early Tuesday morning and to 162 as of late afternoon, making the race a virtual tossup.
According to the San Jose Spotlight, Low has received a boost from ballots that were mailed or dropped off on primary election day in Santa Clara County. These voters tend to be younger, more progressive and people of color — voters more likely to choose a young Asian American like Low, Brian Parvizshahi, founder of political consulting firm Axial Media and Communications, told the Spotlight.
“There is a world where Evan can come back,” Parvizshahi told San José Spotlight. “It came down to the moderate candidates cannibalizing each other, like Liccardo, Simitian, Peter Dixon and Peter Ohtaki, which allows Evan, who’s much more progressive, to close the gap.”
The top two vote-getters will advance to the Nov. 5 general election for a change to succeed U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo, who has represented the Silicon Valley district for the past three decades.
Both counties have until April 12 to have their results certified. Candidates will also have an opportunity to request a recount if the final results prove to be very close.
San Jose Spotlight contributed to this report.
