GOP’s Baker in tight race in East Bay
Moderate Dem Wicks leads progressive rival in District 15
The Bay Area’s lone Republican legislator in Sacramento was hanging onto her seat Tuesday night, while the more moderate Democrat in an adjacent East Bay race for state Assembly was leading her progressive competitor.
With almost 17 percent of precincts reporting, Assemblywoman Catharine Baker, R-San Ramon, had 52 percent to Democratic challenger Rebecca Bauer-Kahan’s 48 percent in the contest to represent Assembly District 16, which stretches from Walnut Creek to Livermore.
In the East Bay’s Assembly District 15, which extends from north of Richmond into Oakland, Buffy Wicks was leading Jovanka Beckles, 61 percent to 39 percent, with about 8 percent of precincts reporting. They were running for the open seat vacated by Tony Thurmond.
Takeaway: Baker has tried to distance herself from President Trump in her Democratic-leaning district. It worked when she was elected to a second term in 2016, and appeared to be succeeding Tuesday as well.
In her far more progressive district, Beckles’ late endorsement by Sen. Bernie Sanders looked like it wasn’t going to be enough to beat Wicks, who had the backing of the Democratic establishment. In a tweet on Tuesday, Beckles said she’d been dropped from the voter rolls and had to vote for herself provisionally.
Background: Baker, 47, who calls herself prochoice, pro-environment and pro-gun control despite the GOP label, touted her bipartisan legislation during the campaign.
Bauer-Kahan, a law professor at Santa Clara University and Golden Gate University, was a first-time candidate. She said she ran because Baker was insufficiently progressive.
Wicks, 41, another first-time candidate, had the backing of former President Barack Obama and other Democratic heavyweights. She directed Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in California in 2016 and worked in the Obama White House on passing the Affordable Care Act.
Wicks outraised and outspent Beckles, a Richmond City Council member and youth mental health counselor who got support from progressive organizations in addition to Sanders.