It started with the impossible the second–place a tie With 30,249 votes each, the three Democrats will face off in the November election.
It seemed unlikely to experts that California’s 16th Congressional District would move toward a primary recount because of the high price tag and apparent lack of motivation.
Despite the apparent impossibility, three voters voted and demanded a recount. general election a race to obscurity.
Now the Bay Area will reconsider thousands of ballots, raising the possibility that the general election prospects of one of the candidates tied for second place — Evan Lowe and Joe Simitian — will be diminished.
California voter Jonathan Padilla requested a recount, a Santa Clara official confirmed. Padilla is a former staffer for former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo’s previous campaign — a fact that his rival, Lowe, was quick to point out.
“This is a page from Trump’s political playbook, which uses dirty tricks to attack democracy and subvert the will of voters. “Sam Liccardo, who does not live in the district, did not report the recount,” the campaign statement said. “Instead, he had his former employee do it for him. What is he afraid of?”
Padilla confirmed that he worked for Liccardo’s campaign about 10 years ago, pointing to LinkedIn, which shows he was the policy and finance director for Liccardo’s 2014 San Jose mayoral bid. Padilla also donated to Liccardo’s campaign in December, he confirmed.
But both Padilla and Liccardo’s campaign denied they were involved.
A member of Liccardo’s campaign said Liccardo’s campaign has not coordinated with Padilla regarding the recount request, nor has the former mayor and his campaign contacted Padilla since he requested the recount.
Padilla, likewise, said he had no affiliation with the campaign or with Liccardo.
Padilla also referred NBC News to her Wednesday for comment post To X, he said that would be his only public comment “until all the votes are counted.”
Like Low, Padilla called out former President Donald Trump in his statement.
“Donald Trump represents an existential threat to democracy and believes in vote-counting as we saw on election night 2020,” Padilla said in a Wednesday post. “Why other democrats do not believe in the counting of votes and the transparent reflection of the will of the people, I am confused.”
He added that he found it “particularly puzzling” that people criticizing recounts “have themselves defended automatic recounts in the past”.
Santa Clara County Supervisor Simitian said in a statement that the process “will work itself out.”
“My job is to focus on how I can best represent the people in our district,” he said. “So do I.”
Both runners-up had previously indicated their expected moves to the general election.
Liccardo’s campaign spokesman Orrin Evans said in a statement that “every vote should count.”
“We understand why, in these extraordinary circumstances, efforts must be made to make sure these votes are fully counted,” he added, referring to ballots with signature verification issues.
The heavily Democratic district is currently represented by MP Anna Eshoo, who is not seeking re-election.