Controverisal statewide measure trails.
Glazer holds solid advantage in East Bay race; South Bay incumbents in good shape
Republican Alexander Glew was leading Democrats Sally Lieber and Josh Becker on Tuesday night in the race for the state Senate District 13 seat, a contest that saw Lieber getting slammed with a heavy volley of nasty attack ads financed by special interest groups.
Five Democrats had spent more than $1.7 million on the seven-person race for a district that covers part of South San Francisco all the way to Sunnyvale and has long been represented by Jerry Hill, who will term out at the end of the year.
In California’s state legislative races, the top two finishers in Tuesday’s primary will face each other in November’s general election, regardless of party.
In Senate District 15, South Bay political heavyweight Dave Cortese took a large lead early in his bid to replace termed-out Sen. Jim Beall, collecting about a third more votes than former state Fair Political Practices Commission chair Ann Ravel and more than twice as many as Nora Campos, a former assemblywoman and former San Jose councilwoman.
The district covers the area from Cupertino east to Mount Hamilton, and from Los Gatos north to San Jose’s Alum Rock neighborhood.
More than $1.6 million in special interest money had been spent supporting Cortese, Campos, Ravel and San Jose City Councilman Johnny Khamis in the seven-person race.
Of that amount, a little more than $1 million was spent on behalf of Campos by a single political action committee, Restore America’s Middle Class Coalition, which is financed by oil companies.
While Campos was supported heavily by oil companies, she was also attacked by a labor-backed group, Opportunity PAC, which had spent almost $300,000 in digital ads and mailers against her. The same PAC also spent $358,000 to support labor-friendly Cortese.
In the East Bay’s State Senate District 7, Democrat Sen. Steve Glazer was holding a sizable lead against Republican Julie Mobley and a larger lead over Democratic opponent Marisol Rubio, who was backed by unions still angry at Glazer for speaking out against a BART employee strike a few years ago and seeking a ban against future strikes.
Glazer, who has held office since 2015, was leading Mobely by double digits, and had garnered more than twice as many votes as Rubio in the race for the district, which covers much of Contra Costa County and parts of eastern and southern Alameda County.
In Assembly District 24, incumbent Marc Berman, a Democrat and former Palo Alto councilman who has backed major legislative reforms such as SB 50 to create more housing in cities around the state, was far ahead of Republican Peter Ohtaki, a Menlo Park councilman and former mayor who opposed the bill on grounds it sabotages local control.
In the crowded Assembly District 25 race, where incumbent Kansen Chu announced he’d step down to run for a Santa Clara County supervisor seat, Republican Bob Brunton held an early double-digit lead in the race in both Alameda County and Santa Clara counties.
The district represents portions of North San Jose, Milpitas, Santa Clara, Fremont and Newark.
Behind Brunton in both tallies was Alex Lee, who is a former staffer for state Sen. Henry Stern and state Assemblymember Evan Low. Technology manager Natasha Gupta, and longtime Santa Clara County Office of Education board member Anna Song were close behind Lee in Alameda County, while in Santa Clara County it was consumer attorney and West Valley-Mission Community College Board member Anne Kepner behind Lee, then Song.
Former Ohlone College board member Republican Bob Brunton, longtime Santa Clara Unified School District board member Jim Canova, Milpitas Councilwoman and former school board member Carmen Montano, Milpitas Councilman Anthony Phan, eed is a stem cell research advocate and a former Fremont planning commissioner Roman Reed,
In Senate District 17, which covers all of Santa Cruz and San Luis Obispo counties, along with southern Santa Clara County and coastal Monterey County, a group of four candidates are hoping to replace termedout Sen. Bill Monning. Republican Vicki Nohrden and Democrat John Laird were in a tightl race.
On Tuesday night, Republican Vicki Nohrden was slightly leading Democrat John Laird, and was much further ahead of Democrats Maria Cadenas, and John M. Nevill.
Meanwhile, Democratic incumbents running for reelection to the State Assembly in typically blue South Bay districts were comfortably leading their races over Republican or inexperienced challengers.
Ash Kalra, the Democratic incumbent in Assembly District 27 representing East and Central San Jose, had more than double the votes over his lone opponent, 80-year-old Republican Burt Lancaster.
In Assembly District 28, Democratic incumbent Evan Low had a commanding lead over political newcomers, Republican Carlos Rafael Cruz and 18-year-old Los Gatos High School senior Sam Ross by wide margins.