I am glad that my wife and I voted for Joe Simitian in the March Democratic primary to fill retiring Rep. Anna Eshoo’s seat in CA-16.
Without my vote, or maybe my wife’s, our preferred candidate would have ended up in third place in the race, heading home because only the top-two candidates in a California primary go on to the November general election.
Next time you hear somebody say that their vote does not count, here is yet another example of just how wrong that sentiment is.
According to the San Jose Spotlight, Simitian and Evan Low each garnered 30,249 votes in the race, and will both face former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo in November.
Primary results are scheduled to be certified tonight.
All three candidates are good people, good Democrats, and whoever wins in November will be certain to support President Biden.
We supported Simitian because I feel he has been stronger on environmental issues. I don’t know Low well, but he has a reputation of being the most progressive of the candidates for the seat. While I voted for Liccardo as mayor, I feel he’s very much middle of the road and, as mayor, leaned more for the development side (but that’s to be expected of a big-city mayor, I suppose.)
But how will this play out in November? I can see Low and Simitian splitting the progressive vote and allowing Liccardo an easier route to election.
Would it make sense for Low and Simitian to put their heads together and decide which one will drop out, to make it easier for that second person to top Liccardo?
Spotlight:
Unlike other states, California does not have an automatic recount policy. Any voter can request a recount up to five days after election certification.
Brian Parvizshahi, campaign manager of several South Bay races including Rep. Ro Khanna’s successful congressional campaign to unseat former Congressmember Mike Honda in 2016, said the question for Simitian and Low is whether a three way race is detrimental or beneficial.
“If I’m Simitian’s campaign, I would try to issue (a) recount because it’d be a lot more difficult for him to win with in a three-way race,” Parvizshahi told San José Spotlight. “If you are Low’s campaign, maybe you want both Sam and and Joe in the race so that all the young, progressive votes go to you.”
Liccardo got 38,489 votes, so was just slightly ahead of the other two men. It stands to reason that, should one drop out, the voters who did not choose Liccardo for whatever reason would gravitate to his November opponent.
LA Times:
Should the count hold and all three candidates make it to the final ballot, [political consultant Marva] Diaz said, the presence of three Democrats running robust campaigns would “change the dynamics immensely” for the November election.
“Running against one other person is very different than running against two other people,” she said.