Sam Liccardo urged his fellow candidates – and the public – to embrace the results of the 16th Congressional District recount.

The counting process exploded into a controversy involving political action committees, campaign surrogates, the Federal Election Commission, members of Congress and the counting of previously discarded ballots.

The fortunes of Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez in San Diego appeared to have dimmed, as business and community leaders and county Republicans advocated for a local administrator with knowledge of San Diego County and no ties to the organized labor and partisan Democrat connections that had initially pushed Chavez for the job a year ago.

While former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo’s 8,200-vote margin means he is a shoo-in for the top spot on the ballot, the recount could change the unprecedented tie between Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian and State Assemblymember Evan Low.

Evan Low says, Thanks but no thanks, to the recount, and accuses Sam Liccardo of Trumpian tactics in engineering a recount plot to benefit from a two-man race.

Because of a tie vote for second place, voters in November will choose from among three candidates for the coveted Silicon Valley congressional seat: former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, Santa Clara Supervisor Joe Simitian and state Assemblymember Evan Low.

Joe Simitian was ahead of Evan Low by five votes Monday evening, after a week of seesaw results. The eventual winner of the race will be decided by how many of the remaining 1,000 voters who mailed in unsigned ballots show up before 5 pm Tuesday, April 2 to sign their ballots.

The Registered Nurses Professional Association rejected a mediator’s proposal the same day it announced a three-day strike at Santa Clara County healthcare facilities, beginning Tuesday, April 2.

The nurses' union says county management failed to bargain in good faith around working conditions and safety issues that impact nurses and patient care.

Weekend processing of ballots by voters who were same-day registrants and the results of challenges to others could leave the race to be Sam Liccardo’s opponent in November a virtual dead-heat.

The contest between Joe Simitian and Evan Low could be decided by Friday's report from San Mateo County, which last reported results on Wednesday, March 13.

District Attorney Jeff Rosen has decided not to charge Rebecca Eisenberg for theft, which had been sought by Valley Water CEO Rick Callender when Eisenberg in January took home a copy of the report that accused her of the abusive conduct.

As expected, Mayor Matt Mahan easily won re-election, avoiding a November runoff with 87.8% of the vote, as ballot counting continued through Thursday.

In addition to outright winners in local races in the March primary, Matt Mahan, David Cohen and Otto Lee, another 10 local politicians emerged from the early ballot counts as shoo-ins for November, because they are already comfortably separated from their opponents.

The primary turnout in the county in 2022 was just under 36 percent, and this year’s county tally is likely to be under 30%, based on this week’s trends.

Over 45 terrifying minutes in March 2023, Eliobert Gonzalez repeatedly threatened to kill the San Jose family and cut off their heads if they didn’t help him get back into his old apartment.