With them tied for second place, three Democrats appear headed to the ballot in November in the race for a congressional seat in Silicon Valley.
This highly unusual situation comes after weeks of uncertainty, with runner-up Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian and Assemblyman Evan Low of Campbell repeatedly swapping positions, often separated by just one or two votes. They appear to have finished the race with 30,249 votes each.
Former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo maintained his first-place lead since the primary, securing his place on the November ballot by more than 38,000 votes.
“It was like watching a snail race — the most exciting race I've ever witnessed,” said Marva Diaz, a political consultant and publisher of the California Target Book election guide.
There does not immediately appear to be any precedent for a three-way congressional race in California since the state switched to its nonpartisan primary system in 2012, under which the top two finishers advance to the November ballot regardless of party.
In the event of a tie for second place in a primary, California election law mandates that both candidates appear on the general ballot alongside the first-place finisher.
The two candidates are vying to replace retiring Rep. Anna Eshoo of Menlo Park in a safe Democratic district that includes part of Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.
The results are not yet official, although both counties said Wednesday that all ballots have been processed. County election officials must complete their official counts by Thursday, and the Secretary of State's Office is expected to certify the election results on April 12.
There was a three-way general election in the 2016 Assembly race, when former Assemblyman Autumn Burke faced off against other candidates, California Target Book research director Rob Byers noted Wednesday.
But both contenders were write-in candidates, tied on 32 primary votes, making it an uncompetitive general election race — and a very different situation from the battle brewing in California's 16th Congressional District.
Simitian, Low and Liccardo are all current or former elected officeholders who have run serious, major fundraising campaigns.
If the vote count continues and the three candidates make it to the final ballot, having three Democrats running strong campaigns would “dramatically change the dynamics” in the November election, Diaz said.
“Running against one other person is very different from running against two other people,” she said.
Eshoo announced her retirement in November after more than three decades in Congress. Democrats hold a more than 3-to-1 registration advantage over Republicans in the district, which includes the cities of Palo Alto, Mountain View and part of San Jose.
Once the votes are certified, either candidate can also request a recount, which they will be required to pay for. But if they head to the polls, the political calculations for requesting a recount will be cloudy at best, because it could result in either of them losing their seat.
Simitian's communications director, Francesca Segre, said Wednesday afternoon that his campaign would refrain from commenting until both counties officially certify their results.
Law's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but the assemblyman posted on Twitter a photo of himself wearing a bright purple tie, joking: “It's a special tie day!”
