Chu leads for supe, Mahan for S.J. council.
Chu holding lead over Lee in race for county supervisor
In the first reports after polls closed Tuesday night, tech entrepreneur Matt Mahan had received more than half the share of votes reported for the open District 10 seat on the San Jose City Council, while Assemblyman Kansen Chu was leading former Sunnyvale councilman Otto Lee and two others hoping to take an open seat on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors.
Four incumbent San Jose City Council members were defending their seats in Tuesday’s primary election, with double-digit leads for incumbent council members Sylvia Arenas and Dev Davis. The District 10 seat is open, as Councilman Johnny Khamis is termed out and running for State Senate.
In District 2, laborbacked Councilman Sergio Jimenez had a narrow lead against businessman Jonathan Fleming, a conservative who has never held political office.
Berryessa Unified School District trustee David Cohen had a slim lead over incumbent Councilman Lan Diep in District 4. Employment attorney Huy Tran and tech worker Jamal Khan followed in third and fourth place.
In District 6, Councilwoman Dev Davis garnered about half of the early votes. She was followed by biomedical engineer Jake Tonkel, who has been backed by a number of labor groups, with Commissioner Ruben Navarro and community volunteer Marshall Woodmansee trailing.
Councilmember Sylvia Arenas, meanwhile, led by double digits over her single opponent for the District 8 seat, Jim Zito, an Evergreen School District board member. Zito recently lost all his big-name endorsements in the wake of publicity surrounding his 2007 divorce case.
In the race for Khamis’ open seat in District 10, Mahan led by double digits over retired business manager Helen Wang. In third place was Jenny Higgins Bradanini, the president of the Women’s March Bay Area.
In the race for District 3 supervisor, a seat being vacated by termed-out Supervisor Dave Cortese, Chu held a single-digit lead over Lee, followed by San Jose Councilwoman Magdalena Carrasco and former San Jose Planning Commissioner John Leyba, the only Republican candidate.
Supervisor Cindy Chavez was handily reelected to District 2 supervisor with more than half the share of votes in early results. She beat out health services representative Jennifer Celaya and law student Anthony Macias.
Supervisor Joe Simitian, who was unopposed for the District 5 seat, was also reelected.
According to an estimate by the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters, it will likely take days to finalize election results because of vote-by-mail, conditional and provisional ballots.