The three-way race for California’s 16th Congressional District is heating up again because of two late requests for a recount.
Pacifica's Dan Stegink is confident a recount will break the tie between congressional candidates Assemblymember Evan Low and Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian. He said he's putting down a $5,000 deposit for the recount done by machine. The total cost is $16,000 a day for five days, according to Santa Clara County's Registrar of Voters.
Stegink is staking his money on Low coming out ahead of Simitian. If that happens, he will get his money back.
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“I said 30,249 vote ties statistically extremely unlikely, and I’m confident that this recount is going to take place and I'm confident that we're going to have a two-person general election when it's done,” he said.
Former San Jose mayor Sam Liccardo won 21% of the March primary votes, trailed by Low and Simitian with 17% each. If the tie stands, all three candidates will advance to a run-off in November. But if a recount breaks the tie, only the two advance.
“It’s important for the leading candidate, Sam Liccardo to only face off with one challenger instead of two,” said Victor Gomez, executive director Silicon Valley Business PAC.
Low's campaign accuses Liccardo of coordinating the recount because the second petition for a recount came from Jonathan Padilla, who worked on Liccardo's mayoral campaign 10 years ago.
Federal election records show Padilla donated $1,000 to Liccardo's congressional campaign last December. His requests are for a more expensive and manual recount.
But in his paperwork, Padilla said he isn't communicating or coordinating with any candidate or candidates' agents. He also named low as the one he expects to prevail in the recount. That means if Simitian comes out ahead, Padilla will owe more than $300,000 to Santa Clara and San Mateo counties to pay for the manual recount.
Gomez told NBC Bay Area Wednesday that he sees a race between Low and Liccardo, a progressive versus a moderate democrat, what he sees is the more exciting outcome.
“You will see more money come into this race and more fundraising have to be done by both candidates if it's Evan versus Liccardo,” he said.
