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Former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo and Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian appear to be on the way to a November face-off for a chance to succeed U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo in Congress, early results from the March 5 election show.
With the votes from early this week counted, Liccardo and Simitian were leading the 11-candidate pack in both San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, according to the California Secretary of State.
Across the 16th Congressional District, which makes up much of Silicon Valley, Liccardo had 21.8% of the votes as of 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday evening, while Simitian had 17.9% of the votes, according to the Secretary of State.
In addition to leading the district as a whole, Liccardo is leading in both Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, according to county results. Simitian is in second in each of the two counties.
The early results, which are based on ballots that had been mailed in before the election, showed Assembly member Evan Low in third place in both counties. He received 15.9% of the total votes counted as of Wednesday evening.
The top two vote getters will square off in the Nov. 5 election, where they will vie to represent a district that stretches from Pacifica to Los Gatos and includes the Midpeninsula cities of Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Mountain View, Atherton, Woodside and Portola Valley. Eshoo has been representing the area for the past three decades.
Ohtaki is one of two Republicans in the race, along with Karl Ryan, who did not raise any money or participate in any campaign events. Early results suggest that neither Republican is likely to make the top two. Ohtaki was in fourth place with 13.3% of the vote, while Ryan had 7.2% as of Wednesday.
Trailing Ohtaki were Portola Valley resident and tech entrepreneur Peter Dixon, Ryan and Saratoga council member Rishi Kumar, who had twice challenged Eshoo for the Congressional seat. Kumar fell short in this third attempt, with 6.4% of the votes so far.
The list of candidates also includes Palo Alto council member Julie Lythcott-Haims and Ahmed Mostafa, an attorney and former Google employee, who have thus far received 5.2% and 2.4% of the vote, respectively. Palo Alto council member Greg Tanaka and Joby Bernstein, a Stanford University graduate student and investor in climate change, were in the back of the pack with 1.4% and 0.9% of the votes, respectively.
The highly watched race included more than $10 million in expenditures from the candidates and political action committees supporting them. Among the highest spenders was Dixon, who had raised more $1.5 million for the race and who received 7.7% of the votes in the district. This included 12.1% of the votes in San Mateo County but only 6.5% in Santa Clara County.
If the results hold, the November showdown will feature two experienced lawmakers who are well known around Silicon Valley’s political establishment. Liccardo, a two-term San Jose mayor, touted throughout the campaign his experience as a big-city mayor and has amassed a large campaign chest and a long list of endorsements from other mayors and business leaders.
Liccardo said in an interview that while the results are still coming in, the early tallies reflect what he’s been hearing about the priorities of the residents in the communities that make up the district.
“The fact that we’re in this very competitive position aligns with what I’ve been hearing from thousands of our residents as I’ve been knocking on doors from Pacifica to San Jose,” Liccardo said. “That is that our residents want to see a Congress working together to create solutions for homelessness and the high costs of everything from utility bills to childcare.
“As much as I expect I’ll be fighting in Washington for reproductive rights and to protect Democratic institutions, we need to get something done on these critical issues that our communities grapple with daily.”
The early results also reflect the highly competitive nature of the race, he said, with several strong candidates vying for a chance to serve in Congress.
Barring a major turnaround, his opponent in the race will be Simitian, an attorney who had spent decades in public service as a Palo Alto council member, a state Assembly member, a state Senator and a Santa Clara County supervisor. Simitian, who has been endorsed by Eshoo, has represented 15 of the 16 cities in the Congressional district and his list of endorsements includes dozens of local elected officials from both counties.
Shortly after 9 p.m. on the night of the election, Simitian addressed a crowd of supporters at the Peninsula Creamery in downtown Palo Alto. He acknowledged that the final results won’t be certified for days but expressed confidence based on the early showings that he would be moving on to the general election.
“We have enough to say this: We’re in the top two and we’re going to November,” Simitian said.
He said in an interview that he looks forward to the coming months, when he will have a chance to meet more constituents from the communities that make up the district. With Eshoo announcing her decision to retire from Congress just before Thanksgiving, candidates have had very little time to campaign before the March 5 primary, he said.
“This is one of the relatively infrequent opportunities we have to actually get people together,” Simitian said. “With eight months, now we can have those conversations and I think this will benefit the campaign.
“I know I will both enjoy and benefit from hearing from people in those communities that I’m aspiring to represent.”
“Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dumber”; We will just spend more of your tax $$ with no results.
We need candidates that do NOT owe their loyalty to the Party over their constituents!
Joe has been a great public servant, but his time has passed. He’s 71. On the fast track, it takes at least 10 years to earn a strong leadership role in the house. Case in point, Hakeem Jeffries is certainly a fast track leader… He’s 53 now and was first elected in 2013. Point is that Joe will be in his 80s by the time he’s super influential, assuming he is able to climb the ranks quickly.
Anna was there for 3 decades and never authored a consequential bill or led the charge on a major shift in direction for the party. Great constituent services and a loyal party vote, but a true leader? Nope. Shouldn’t one of the most influential communities in the world have representation that punches above (or at least at) its weight class?
Would have preferred one of the younger, more dynamic candidates, but given the alternatives I’m on team Sam.