By: Sahil Muthukrishnan

Sports Editor

On election night, Nov 5, 2024, Representative Elect Samuel Theodore Liccardo, the former Mayor of San Jose, defeated former Campbell mayor and Democratic Assemblymember Evan Low in the race for California District 16’s senate seat. This race was one of the most anticipated on the West Coast. Both candidates battled hard, making the race tenaciously competitive. Liccardo is replacing former Representative Anna Eshoo, who served in Congress from 1993 to 2023 before she announced she would not be running for reelection. 

Liccardo, who served as the 65th mayor of San Jose from 2015 to 2023, is a Bay Area Democrat who grew up in Saratoga, California. In 2006 he won a seat on San Jose’s District 3 council. Liccardo championed affordable housing and continued this policy as mayor. He campaigned on large-scale issues such as homelessness, crime, and the cost of living in the Representative race.

Evan Low, the mayor of Campbell from 2009 to 2014, is also a Democrat born in San Jose, California. He ran for city council in California’s 28th District, winning in 2006. Low broke carriers as mayor of Campbell, becoming the youngest openly gay Asian American mayor in the US. As an Assemblymember and council member, Low advocated for greater acceptance of minorities. He supported many propositions that dealt with preventing discrimination and helping marginalized communities, such as AB-1887 and AB-57 which addressed public transportation and language respectively. Low campaigned on large-scale issues as well, including minority rights, gun safety, healthcare, and homelessness.

The race looked tight coming up to election day; however, controversy over the Low campaign’s fund use seemed to tip the scales in Liccardo’s favor. Both campaigns ran an impressive number of advertisements for themselves and against the opposition. Liccardo raised upwards of 5.6 million dollars for his campaign while Low raised a still impressive 3.5 million. Notably, California Governor Gavin Newsom endorsed Low in the final days leading up to the election. The California Democratic Party also supported Low. The San Francisco Chronicle and San Jose Mercury News endorsed Liccardo. Both candidates also received support from numerous local and state officials. On Election Day, Liccardo defeated Low decisively, leading the vote by almost 60 percent. Liccardo soon issued a statement saying, “I am working to put a strong team of congressional staff in place to serve our district at home and in D.C. because our community deserves a representative who can hit the ground running.” Low also issued a statement congratulating Liccardo on his victory and commenting, “Although the outcome of the election is not one we hoped for, I am proud of the people-first campaign that we ran, focusing on the very real issues that affect the daily lives of CD-16 voters. I got my start in local politics