Nearly two months after the primary election was held and four weeks after the race was called a draw, the second-place finisher in the jungle primary for California’s 16th Congressional District has been named: Democratic state assembly member Evan Low beat fellow Democrat Joe Simitian, a county supervisor, by five votes, 30,261 to 30,256, NBC News reports.
Although the race was poised to be a three-way election in November with the two second-place finishers on the ballot with Sam Liccardo, the Democratic former mayor of San Jose, a former campaign staffer of Liccardo filed paperwork demanding a hand recount to determine a single second-place finisher, as any voter in the district could do.
Both Jonathan Padilla, the voter who requested the recount, and the Liccardo campaign denied they were in contact or coordinated ahead of the announcement of a recount. It’s unclear how having a single challenger would benefit Liccardo; he would have an easier campaign if his opposition were split between two candidates. It’s also unclear who paid the cost of the recount.