Republican Hugh Bussell leads state Senate Majority Leader Ellen Corbett by 413 votes in their battle to finish second behind Rep. Eric Swalwell in the 15th Congressional District, following Friday’s election-returns update from Contra Costa County.
Contra Costa Registrar Joe Canciamilla said all his county’s ballots are now counted except for about 4,000 with damages, soiling or errors; only a fraction of those would fall in the 15th District, most of which falls in Alameda County where counting was completed earlier this week.
“Based on the data from this run that I have just been given, I don’t think it will make much of a difference in the outcomes,” Canciamilla said. “The close races have margins that are remaining pretty much the same.”
Corbett, D-Hayward, did not return phone calls Friday afternoon. The most recent item on her campaign’s Facebook page was posted Tuesday.
“As we await the final vote tally, I want to take a moment to thank my many supporters, volunteers, and team for an outstanding show of support and dedication,” she wrote. “Together we have shown East Bay voters a real difference and why it matters.”
Bussell, the Alameda County GOP vice chairman from Livermore, sounded ebullient Friday afternoon.
“It still feels like we’re 95 percent there to crossing the T’s and dotting the I’s,” he said. “It isn’t quite official yet and the margin is so slender, and no matter who ends up the winner, it certainly was a great battle.”
“Obviously I’m very pleased with how things have turned out at this point … and I’m looking forward to stepping up the pace between now and November,” Bussell added.
As of Friday’s update, Swalwell, D-Dublin, had finished first with 42,386 votes, or 49.1 percent of all those cast. Given that Corbett ran as a more progressive candidate while Bussell ran as a more conservative candidate, he seems well-situated in the middle to pick up many of Corbett’s votes come November.
Bussell on Friday had 22,204 votes (25.7 percent) and Corbett had 21,791 (25.22 percent).
