Tied California House race heading to a recount

SACRAMENTO, California — Officials in Santa Clara County are gearing up for a recount in the wild race for second place in the primary for outgoing Rep. Anna Eshoo’s seat.

Santa Clara County elections officials confirmed Tuesday that a voter named Jonathan Padilla had requested a recount in the primary that has Assemblymember Evan Low and Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian in a 30,249-vote tie for second place. In first place is former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo.

A recount would almost certainly change the final tally, making the November election a conventional two-person race, rather than a rare three-way general election — the protocol for ties.

Low’s campaign blasted the move on Tuesday, accusing Liccardo’s campaign of trying to undermine election results and having a former employee make the request.

“This is a page right out of Trump’s political playbook using dirty tricks to attack democracy and subvert the will of the voters,” Whitney Larsen, a spokesperson for Low, told POLITICO.

Liccardo, Larsen added, "did not file a recount himself. Instead, he had his former staffer do it for him. What’s he afraid of?”

Liccardo’s campaign declined to respond to the statement and would not confirm whether Padilla had once worked for Liccardo. Padilla could not be immediately reached for comment.

Padilla requested a manual recount, which is estimated to cost $32,000 per day for 10 days. Payment is due before the recount begins on Monday. If the deadline is missed, there will be no recount, like happened in a Shasta County race this week.

Orrin Evans, a Liccardo campaign spokesperson, told POLITICO that the campaign was unaffiliated with the voter requesting the recount, but agrees it is warranted.

“Every vote should be counted, and that’s why recounts are part of the state’s electoral process to ensure accuracy,” Evans said in a text late Tuesday, noting that uncured ballots could change the outcome.

“We understand why, under these extraordinary circumstances, there would be an effort to make sure these votes are fully considered,” he added.

Simitian decided to stay out of the fray on Tuesday.

"Eventually, this process will work itself out," Simitian wrote in an emailed statement. "My job is to stay focused on how I can best represent the folks in our district. And that’s what I’m doing."

Dustin Gardiner contributed to this report.