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Crowded Field of South Bay Candidates in House Race to Succeed Anna Eshoo

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Three photos of people wearing suits.
San José Mayor Sam Liccardo, California Assemblymember Evan Low, and Santa Clara Board of Supervisors President Joe Simitian. (Beth LaBerge/KQED; Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images; Randy Vazquez/Bay Area News Group)

A historically crowded field of candidates will compete for a South Bay congressional seat in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties next year after Democratic Rep. Anna Eshoo announced in late November that she would not seek another term after a long career in Congress that began with her election in 1992. Thirteen contenders threw their hat in the ring before the close of the candidate filing period on Wednesday evening.

With less than seven weeks before voting begins, candidates will have to quickly raise money and gain endorsements before the March primary. Regardless of party, two candidates will advance to the general election in November. Here’s an early look at the baker’s dozen House hopefuls who filed to represent a district that stretches from Pacifica to San José.

The Frontrunners 

The truncated campaign is advantageous to candidates who voters already know. Three Democrats currently (or recently) have represented considerable swaths of the district in elected office and have the fundraising and political networks to amplify their message.

Sam Liccardo: Nearly 36% of the registered voters in the 16th congressional district live in San José and will likely be familiar with Liccardo from his recent tenure as the city’s mayor. During his two terms from 2015 to 2023, Liccardo helped engineer a fiscal turnaround in San José — lifting the city from a pension crisis to a budget surplus. Liccardo could face criticism for rising homelessness during his time in office, a trend that Liccardo took responsibility for toward the end of his tenure.

Evan Low: Low is looking to make history (again) as the Bay Area’s first openly LGBTQ member of Congress. When he was elected mayor of Campbell in 2009, Low was the youngest Asian and openly gay mayor in America. Since 2014, he’s represented parts of this congressional district in the state Assembly and has won plaudits from progressives for his pro-LGBTQ legislation, and he recently scored an endorsement from Rep. Ro Khanna. Unlike other progressives, Low has maintained close ties to law enforcement — touting his brother’s service in the San José Police Department and voting in 2018 against a closely-watched bill to open up police misconduct records.

Joe Simitian: A Santa Clara County supervisor and former state legislator, Simitian seemed the best prepared for Eshoo’s abrupt retirement announcement. Simitian has been raising money to run for the seat since 2009, stockpiling $681,003 in his campaign account. Simitian, who is 70, enters the race with the most experience on issues like housing and transportation but will undoubtedly face questions about his age and whether Bay Area voters are ready to send another septuagenarian to Washington.

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The Sleepers 

These three Democrats bring unique backgrounds and experiences into the race that could capture the attention of voters. In a crowded field, it may take less than 20% of the vote to advance to the general election.

Peter Dixon: Dixon turned heads with an AI-assisted campaign launch video that offered a computer-generated tour through his service in the Marines and later in the State Department during the Obama administration. After returning home to the Bay Area, Dixon started a national security software company. He’s also the co-founder of the nonprofit With Honor Action, which works to elect more veterans to Congress across party lines.

Rishi Kumar: Eshoo defeated Kumar in the last two general elections, but last year, Kumar grabbed 42% of the vote, a sizable number for an underfunded candidate challenging a longtime incumbent. Kumar is a former member of the Saratoga City Council and a Democratic Party activist.

Julie Lythcott-Haims: As the only woman in the race, Lythcott-Haims will stress the importance of maintaining female leadership in the district. A former Stanford dean, Lythcott-Haims serves on the Palo Alto City Council and is also a New York Times bestselling author of How to Raise an Adult.

The Republicans 

In what feels like a political lifetime ago, Republican Tom Campbell represented much of the current 16th District in Congress between 1989 and 2001. A Republican has little chance of winning this seat in 2024, but if GOP voters, who represent 16% of voters in the district, consolidate behind a single candidate, it’s possible that a Republican can sneak into the general election. Having two Republicans in the field makes even getting out of the primary a challenge for the GOP, however.

Peter Ohtaki: Ohtaki served on the Menlo Park City Council from 2010 until 2018 and has made runs for state Assembly and this House seat in the past. Currently, he is a crisis management executive at Wells Fargo.

Karl Ryan: Ryan is a member of the Santa Clara County Republican Party Central Committee, the board of local officials who work to elect Republicans in the county.

The Rest of the Field

Five more candidates round out the field.

Joby Bernstein: A Stanford graduate student working on a joint MBA and master’s degree in climate science.

Richard Fox: A retired pediatrician and attorney, Fox ran for this seat in 2014, 2016, 2020 and 2022 as a Republican. This time, he did not list a party preference.

Ahmed Mostafa: A former policy strategist at Google, Mostafa has also worked as a pro bono attorney focused on women’s rights and Title IX cases.

Greg Tanaka: Tanaka serves on the Palo Alto City Council, where he has established a reputation as a pro-business, pro-housing council member with an eye on fiscal prudence. He ran for this House seat in 2022 and finished sixth out of eight candidates in the primary.

Gabriel Warshauer-Baker: Co-founder of a tech company focused on machine learning and robotics.

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