On Tuesday, November 8, midterm elections commenced across the nation. Citizens voted for nationwide and statewide offices like the U.S. Congress and governorships. However, a host of local elections also took place, from County Sheriff to City Council. Although results aren’t final in Santa Clara County as only 62 percent of ballots have been counted, The Talon has compiled an update on both local and national elections. 

Democratic House Representative Anna Eshoo pulls ahead

Eshoo has represented parts of the Bay Area for decades, and currently represents California’s 16th District, which includes Los Altos and Mountain View. Running against her is Saratoga City Council member and Democrat Rishi Kumar, who also challenged Eshoo in 2020. While Kumar is behind by a significant margin, he’s running a closer election than he did in 2020 — as of Tuesday night, Kumar gained nearly 42 percent of the votes to Eshoo’s 58 percent, a five point gain from his 2020 performance. 

Jonsen leads Jensen by a slim margin in Sheriff’s race

The election to lead the County sheriff’s department has been one of the closest races in the County. The two candidates in the running are former chief of the Palo Alto Police Department Bob Jonsen and Kevin Jensen, who worked in various management positions in the County Sheriff’s Department. The outgoing head of the Department, Laurie Smith, was recently indicted on corruption charges, and the race to replace her has been cutthroat, with both candidates accusing the other of misconduct. The election itself has been fittingly close: Jonsen leads with just over 51 percent of the vote, while Jensen has just under 49 percent. 

The Los Altos City Council sees a close race for second

The top two candidates in this election will become members of the Los Altos City Council. In the City Council election, incumbent Neysa Fligor took a clear lead, earning 39 percent of the vote. However, Los Altos Parks and Recreation Commission member Pete Dailey and mayor Anita Enander are locked in a tight race for second, with Enander trailing by a few hundred votes. The race has centered on the issues of housing, climate policy, city budget and traffic safety. 

The Mountain View City Council will likely re-elect its incumbents

The three vacant spots in the Mountain View City Council are likely to be granted to current mayor Lucas Ramirez, vice mayor Alison Hicks and former mayor Ellen Kamei. Ellen Kamei currently leads, with Alison Hicks and Lucas Ramirez trailing, respectively. Only a few hundred votes separate the top three candidates, but thousands of votes separate the incumbents from Tesla engineer Justin Cohen and tax manager Li Zhang. 

The MVLA District Board will see new members

The race has been crowded, with only one incumbent, Catherine Vonnegut, and five challengers competing for three open seats on the Board. Vonnegut leads the race with 25 percent of the vote, and closely trailing her is Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula leadership member Esmeralda Ortiz. Former Mountain View City Council candidate Thida Cornes and retired businessman Eric Mark are at third and fourth place, respectively. Businesswoman Carrol Titus-Zambre is in fifth place and retired Tesla employee Jacquie Tanner follows.

Los Altos School District race favors current members

Three incumbents are running in the race, with one non-incumbent challenger, Dr. Sara Farr. The top three candidates in the race will win, and so far, it looks like LASD’s board won’t see much of a shake-up during this election cycle. Incumbent Board member and retired software engineer Bryan Johnson leads with nearly 30 percent of the vote, followed by incumbents Vladimir Ivanovic and Vaishali Sirkay, respectively. Farr trails the three incumbents in the race significantly.

State summary

Across the state, most results have been predictable. As of now, Democrats have swept statewide office elections by 30–50 points and it’s unlikely that these results will change. 

Also in play have been state propositions, most of which have also not been close. Proposition 1, which would enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution, passed easily, and Propositions 26 and 27, which would legalize sports gambling on tribal lands and online, respectively, both failed by large margins. Proposition 28, which would provide more funding for arts and music education in K–12 schools, is passing, and Proposition 29, which would further regulate dialysis clinics, is not. Proposition 31 will pass, prohibiting the sale of flavored tobacco products. The only Proposition race with a tight margin currently is Proposition 30, which would increase income taxes on the richest Californians to support zero-emission transport and wildfire prevention. Currently, the Proposition is losing, with “Yes” gaining 45 percent of the vote. 

National summary

Across the country, Republicans haven’t performed as well as expected. While they’ve pulled out some impressive wins, Democrats have held their own, and the House of Representatives and Senate are still in play, while it’s likely that Republicans will take the former by a slim margin. It’s unlikely that we’ll know the final results for some of the more competitive races until later this week. 

Republicans saw many wins across the Senate, but haven’t yet flipped any seats. Venture capitalist J.D. Vance cruised to victory in Ohio, and in Wisconsin, incumbent Republican senator Ron Johnson beat Democrat Mandela Barnes in one of the most closely-watched races of the cycle. While both of these elections were expected to go to Republicans, they weren’t guaranteed. By contrast, Democrats flipped a Pennsylvania Senate seat, improbably electing lieutenant governor John Fetterman over celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz. They also retained Maggie Hassan’s hard-fought Senate seat in New Hampshire, and Democratic Senator Mark Kelly will retain his Senate seat in Arizona.

Some of the closest Senatorial elections are still up for grabs: Republican Adam Laxalt is ahead by less than a thousand votes in his race to defeat vulnerable Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, and the final votes could flip the race in either direction. In Georgia, former football player Republican Herschel Walker’s challenge against Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock is down to the wire and will head to a December runoff election, as it did in 2020. 

The House is largely expected to go to Republicans, as was predicted, but the race has been closer than some previously thought. Republicans have picked up some massive victories, including a series of flipped seats in New York that ousted four Democrats, including Sean Patrick Maloney, the leader of the House Democrats’ fundraising committee. Democrats have come out ahead in closely-fought races across the country as well, though, and while Republicans are likely to win, the “red wave” that was so heavily forecasted never came. 

Governors’ races have largely gone to the incumbents. One of the earliest Republican victories of the night was Ron Desantis’s victory in Florida, a blowout win that favored Republicans more than expected. High-profile Republicans Brian Kemp and Greg Abbott held onto their seats in Georgia and Texas, respectively, as did Democrats Laura Kelly in Kansas and Gretchen Whitmer in Michigan. The only three projected party switches so far are in Maryland and Massachusetts, who have both elected new Democrats to the governorship, and in Nevada, where Sheriff of Clark County and Republican Joe Lombardo eked out a win against incumbent Democrat Steve Sisolak. The race in Arizona is currently too close to call.