A Rare Tie in Congressional Primary
Apr. 4th, 2024 08:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerThere's an old saying in elections, every vote counts. Sometimes one side wins by such a lopsided margin it's hard to believe any one vote made a difference. Other times an election is close and it's obvious every vote counts. Just recently in my area a rare closeness occurred: a Congressional primary resulted in a tie.
The tie occurred in California's District 16. Former San Jose mayor Sam Liccardo California won with over 38,000 votes. The tie occurred for second place. California Assembly member Evan Low and Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian tied for second with 30,249 votes apiece. Example news coverage: LA Times story 3 Apr 2024, KQED article 3 Apr 2024.
Under the rules of California's "Top Two" primary system, the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, advance to the general election in November. The law provides that when there's a tie for 2nd place, three candidates advance. So Liccardo, Low, and Simitian will face off again in November.
As I've noted before, D16 is not my district today but kind of used to be in the sense that retiring incumbent Representative Anna Eshoo used to be my Congresswoman. Redistricting in 2012 moved district boundaries around, resulting in her being in a different district. Eshoo's retirement after 32 years in Congress opened a once-in-a-generation opportunity— almost once-in-two-generations— for a competitive race. And this race has been very competitive... among Democrats! Not one, or two, but three credible Democrats ran in the primary. All have held prior elected offices and are in the political mainstream. I kind of wish this were still my district because I like to vote in exciting, genuinely competitive elections!
The tie occurred in California's District 16. Former San Jose mayor Sam Liccardo California won with over 38,000 votes. The tie occurred for second place. California Assembly member Evan Low and Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian tied for second with 30,249 votes apiece. Example news coverage: LA Times story 3 Apr 2024, KQED article 3 Apr 2024.
Under the rules of California's "Top Two" primary system, the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, advance to the general election in November. The law provides that when there's a tie for 2nd place, three candidates advance. So Liccardo, Low, and Simitian will face off again in November.
As I've noted before, D16 is not my district today but kind of used to be in the sense that retiring incumbent Representative Anna Eshoo used to be my Congresswoman. Redistricting in 2012 moved district boundaries around, resulting in her being in a different district. Eshoo's retirement after 32 years in Congress opened a once-in-a-generation opportunity— almost once-in-two-generations— for a competitive race. And this race has been very competitive... among Democrats! Not one, or two, but three credible Democrats ran in the primary. All have held prior elected offices and are in the political mainstream. I kind of wish this were still my district because I like to vote in exciting, genuinely competitive elections!
