These needing a reminder concerning the energy of a singular vote ought to look no additional than California’s sixteenth Congressional District, the place the race to be one of many finalists for a safely Democratic Silicon Valley-area Home seat is at the moment separated by one vote.
Former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo has maintained a first-place lead within the race to exchange retiring Rep. Anna Eshoo of Menlo Park, however the contest for second place has been much more unstable, with Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian and Assemblymember Evan Low of Campbell repeatedly swapping spots. All three are Democrats.
On Monday afternoon — practically three weeks after election day — Simitian’s lead over Low narrowed to a single vote. At one level final week, Low led Simitian by two votes. The highest two finishers will advance to the November common election.
Having a aggressive race this shut for a significant workplace is “shockingly uncommon,” stated Paul Mitchell, a Democratic strategist and political information skilled.
The present state of play is made all of the extra atypical by the truth that Low and Simitian are each top-tier candidates with severe campaigns who’ve raised important funds and at the moment maintain elected workplace, Mitchell stated.
He advised that if there have been another current California examples of main races the place the second- and third-place finisher have been this shut, it could nearly actually be in a race the place the dueling second- and third-place finishers have been “random nobodies” who had solely garnered a small section of the vote and never severe contenders.
Eshoo introduced her retirement in November after greater than three a long time in Congress. The district contains a part of Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, together with the cities of Palo Alto and Mountain View and a part of the town of San Jose. Democrats maintain a greater than 3-to-1 registration benefit over Republicans within the district, in accordance with information from California Goal E book.
The overwhelming majority of ballots have already been counted, however the subsequent tranche of outcomes from each Santa Clara and San Mateo counties is predicted to be launched late Tuesday afternoon.
