The primary race for a South Bay U.S. House seat remains undecided three weeks since voters went to the polls. As of Tuesday evening, gay Assemblymember Evan Low (D-Cupertino) is now two votes short in his bid to survive the primary race.
After clinging to a bare-bones lead for second place last week, Low had fallen into third place Friday in the race for the open House District 16 seat that spans San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. He now has 30,232 total votes in his bid to become the Bay Area's first LGBTQ congressional member.
Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian had retaken the second place position Friday to lead Low by four votes. His vote total now stands at 30,234.
One of the two Democrats will move on to the fall ballot and compete against Democratic former San Jose mayor Sam Liccardo. He placed first in their March 5 primary contest and currently has 38,470 votes.
The winner of the November 5 race will succeed Congressmember Anna Eshoo (D-Palo Alto). She decided to retire when her current term expires.
Low's campaign has remained silent about the ongoing vote count over the last two weeks. In a post on X last Saturday, Simitian had noted, "sometimes it takes a while for democracy to work. This is one of those times."
Elections officials in San Mateo County are down to 525 challenged ballots that need to have issues with them addressed. They will post another update Wednesday by 4:30 p.m.
In Santa Clara County the registrar of voters continues to process ballots and will post another update Wednesday by 5 p.m. It reported having 725 ballots left to tabulate as of Tuesday morning and 700 challenged ballots left to review by the April 2 at 5 p.m. deadline to correct or "cure" them.
It has been working through roughly 100 ballots a day in each category. At that rate it should wrap up its count by early next week.
The vote count is to be certified on April 4 and could result in a recount if it remains so close. Either of the candidates or any registered voter in the state can request a recount of the vote.
They will need to do so within five calendar days after the completion of the official canvass and signing of the certificate of the election results, as explained by the Santa Clara registrar of voters. The person making the request will also need to cover the cost of the recount.
Back in 2014 gay then-Assemblyman John A. Pérez (D-Los Angeles) requested a recount in his primary bid to be state controller and first LGBTQ person elected to statewide office in California. He had fallen behind Betty Yee, a fellow Democrat serving at the time on the state Board of Equalization, by fewer than 500 votes.
It didn't alter the outcome of the race, which Yee went on to win. She termed out of the controller office at the start of 2023 and is now running for governor in 2026.
Two years ago, after neither Richmond City Council candidate requested a recount in their tied race by the deadline to do so, Cesar Zepeda won the East Bay city's District 2 council seat after the city clerk drew his name from a red Christmas holiday shopping bag. As the B.A.R. noted, Zepeda became the first gay man elected to the council.
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