Three Democrats were set to face off in November after an unexpected second-place tie at 30,249 votes each. Given the high cost and apparent lack of purpose, many doubted California's 16th Congressional District primary would go to a recount.
Now that the San Francisco Bay Area district will go through thousands of ballots, Evan Low and Joe Simitian, who tied for second place, may lose their general election chances.
Santa Clara officials said Jonathan Padilla demanded a recount. Padilla worked for former San Jose mayor Sam Liccardo's campaign, which his opponent Low quickly exploited.
“Trump uses dirty tricks to attack democracy and subvert voter will. The campaign argued non-district resident Sam Liccardo did not file a recount. “He had his ex-employee do it. He's terrified of what?
On his LinkedIn account, Padilla states that he was Liccardo's policy and finance director for his 2014 San Jose mayoral campaign. He said Padilla donated to Liccardo's campaign in December.
According to a Liccardo campaign member, the former mayor and his campaign had not been in touch with Padilla since he sought the recount.
"As we saw on election night in 2020, Donald Trump represents an existential threat to democracy and believes in not counting votes," Padilla wrote Wednesday. "Why other Democrats don’t believe in counting votes and ensuring that the will of the people is transparently reflected confuses me."
The two second-place candidates initially praised their probable general election move. Liccardo campaign spokesperson Orrin Evans said "every vote should be counted."
"We understand why, under these extraordinary circumstances, there would be an effort to make sure these votes are fully considered," he said of signature-verification ballots. The largely Democratic district is represented by Rep. Anna Eshoo, who is not running again.
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