Primary Turnout Reaches 36%, Santa Clara County and State Races Set for November

Ballot counting continued in Santa Clara County and across the state Tuesday, with no changes from the preliminary results reported the night of the June 7 Primary Election.

Final turnout from all county precincts was expected to approach 36% of the estimated 360,000 total votes cast, according to numbers posted on county and state election websites Tuesday evening, June 14.

Total ballots counted at the Registrar of Voters Elections Office in San Jose by 5 pm Tuesday, one week after the primary, reached an estimated 96%– 348,891 – of total votes cast. The Secretary of State estimated another 10,400 ballots remaining to be processed today and the rest of the week. The painstaking vote-counting process in San Jose had produced a steady uptick in numbers, doubling the 48 percent on Primary Election night to Tuesday’s totals.

The spring primary turnout was low for a gubernatorial primary year, but not the lowest: The lowest gubernatorial primary turnouts were 32.4% in 1994, 32.8% in 2014, and 34.1% in 2002.

Voter turnout map, Santa Clara County, with 96% of ballots counted, showing lower turnout in lighter green.
Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters

The dynamic voter turnout map, showing and listing the turnout in each of the 487 precincts in the county, shows turnout was lowest in lower-income, mostly Latino and Vietnamese neighborhoods. More than a dozen of these precincts had turnouts of less than 20%.

The color map clearly shows lower turnouts – yellow and lighter green colors – east of Highway 101 as it slices south through San Jose and the county, with darker green colors on precincts west of 101, the more affluent neighborhoods.

The contests for mayor of San Jose, Santa Clara County sheriff, all four of the contested San Jose City Council races and the one contested county supervisor race will have runoff elections in November with the top two finishers.

District Attorney Jeff Rosen and Assessor Larry Stone will be declared the winners of their races, based on the preliminary primary results.

Voters determined that the new San Jose mayor will serve just two years, until the presidential election year of 2024, and endorsed terms limits for Valley Water District board members, district elections for the City of Santa Clara and approved renewal of parcel taxes in Alum Rock, Milpitas and Mount Pleasant school districts, and school bonds in the Fremont Union High School District.

Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez emerged with a clear 11,000-plus margin over City Councilmember Matt Mahan, but the 39% vote in the seven-person primary and the low primary turnout leave a lot of uncertainty to be sorted out in what is likely to be an expensive and bruising campaign over the next four months.

The same holds true for the sheriff race, with Palo Alto Police Chief Bob Jonson, at 32%, and retired sheriff’s captain Kevin Jensen, at 30.5%, separated by about 4,500 votes.

Redistricting didn’t phase the South Bay members in Congress, as Democrat Representatives Anna Eshoo in the new 16th District, Ro Khann in the new 17th District, Zoe Lofgren in her new 18th District and Jimmy Panetta in the new 19th District all emerged with comfortable margins of support heading towards re-election in the General Election.

Likewise, newcomer Gail Pellerin, former Santa Cruz County clerk, is likely to ride a wave of hometown support to a new seat in the Assembly, in the new 28th District, joining fellow Democrats -- all incumbents --  Marc Berman in the 23rd District, Alex Lee in the 24th District, Ash Kalra in the 25th District, Evan Low in the 26th Assembly and Robert Rivas in the realigned 29th District in the winners’ circles in November.

Unofficial results will continue to be reported on the county and state election offices daily, and results are required to be reported to the state by July 15, when final results will be certified.

Here are some details of the unofficial results of the June 7 Primary Election, with 96% of the ballots counted, showing the top two vote-getters:

SANTA CLARA COUNTY

Supervisor, District 1

Sylvia Arenas, 28.6%

Johnny Khamis, 26.6%

Supervisor, District 4

Susan Ellenberg

Assessor

Larry Stone, 67.5%

Andrew Crockett. 32.5%

District Attorney

Jeff Rosen, 56%

Daniel Chung, 24.4%

Sheriff

Bob Jonsen, 32%

Kevin Jensen, 30.5%

Mayor of San Jose

Cindy Chavez, 39.1%

Matt Mahan, 32.3%

City Council

District 1

Rosemary Kamei, 65.9%

Ramona Snyder, 25.8%

District 3

Omar Torres, 44%

Irene Smith, 20%

District 5

Nora Campos, 31%

Peter Ortiz, 22.5%

District 7

Maya Esparza, 47.5%

Bien Doan, 28.7%

District 9

Pam Foley

 

STATEWIDE

Governor

Gov. Gavin Newsom, Dem., 56.5%

Brian Dahle, Rep., 17.3%

Lt. Governor

Eleni Kounalakis, Dem., 52.9%

Angela Underwood Jacobs, Rep., 19.8%

Secretary of State

Shirley Weber, Dem., 59.3%

Rob Bernosky, Rep., 18.9%

Controller

Lanhee Chen, Rep., 36.9%

Malia Cohen, Dem., 22.5%

Treasurer

Fiona Ma, Dem., 57.8%

Jack Guerrero, Rep., 21.6%

Attorney General

Rob Bonta, Dem., 54.8%

Nathan Hochman, Rep., 18.3%

Insurance Commissioner

Ricardo Lara, Dem., 36.5%

Robert Howell, Rep., 18%

Marc Levine, Dem., 17.8%

Superintendent of Public Instruction

Tony Thurmond, Dem., 46.2%

Lance Ray Christensen, 11.7%

U.S. Senate

Alex Padilla, Dem., 54.5%

Mark Meuser, Rep., 14.7%

 

CONGRESS, LEGISLATURE

16th District

Anna Eshoo, Dem., 47.9%

Rishi Kumar, Dem., 15.8%

17th District

Ro Khanna, Dem., 66%

Ritesh Tandon, Rep., 25.3%

18th District

Zoe Lofgren, Dem., 56.2%

Peter Hernandez, Rep., 31.4%

19th District

Jimmy Panetta, Dem., 67.6%

Jeff Gorman, Rep., 23.1%

Senate, District 10

Lily Mei, Dem, 33.3%

Aisha Wahab, Dem., 29.8%

Assembly

23rd District

Marc Berman, Dem., 76.2%

Tim Dec, Rep., 23.8%

24th District

Alex Lee, Dem., 38.5%

Bob Brunton, Rep., 21.3%

25th District

Ash Kalra, Dem., 71.7%

Ted Stroll, Rep., 28.3%

26th District

Evan Low, Dem., 66.9%

Tim Gorsulowsky, Rep., 23.7%

28th District

Gail Pellerin, Dem., 33.3%

Liz Lawler, Rep., 31.1%

29th District

Robert Rivas, Dem., 63.9%

Stephanie Castro, Rep., 36.1%

Three decades of journalism experience, as a writer and editor with Gannett, Knight-Ridder and Lee newspapers, as a business journal editor and publisher and as a weekly newspaper editor in Scotts Valley and Gilroy; with the Weeklys group since 2017. Recipient of several first-place writing and editing awards, California News Publishers Association.

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