U.S. House of Representatives, District 16
U.S. House of Representatives, District 16
Top two candidates advance to general election.
Sam Liccardo (D)21.1%
38,489 votes
Evan Low (D)16.6%
30,249 votes
Joe Simitian (D)16.6%
30,249 votes
Race called at 5:32 PM PT on March 11, 2024
99% of votes countedAssociated PressThis percentage is an Associated Press estimate of how much of the vote in an election has been counted. It is informed by turnout in recent elections, details on votes cast in advance and – after polls close – early returns. The estimate may fluctuate as election officials report additional results and AP learns more about how many voters have cast a ballot.
99% of votes countedAssociated PressThis percentage is an Associated Press estimate of how much of the vote in an election has been counted. It is informed by turnout in recent elections, details on votes cast in advance and – after polls close – early returns. The estimate may fluctuate as election officials report additional results and AP learns more about how many voters have cast a ballot.
Why does this race matter?
When U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo announced in November that she would not run for reelection after more than three decades in Congress, high-profile Democrats from across the South Bay jumped at the chance to represent reliably liberal communities from Pacifica to San José.
What does a U.S. representative do?
Representatives are your local community’s voice in the U.S. House of Representatives. Members of congress write and vote on bills, including the federal budget. The top-two finishers in this primary election, regardless of party, will face off in the November election. The winner will serve a two-year term.
Key Candidates
This list represents the most notable candidates running for the seat.
Peter DixonTechnology EntrepreneurDemocrat
Rishi KumarFormer City Council Member, SaratogaDemocrat
Sam LiccardoFormer Mayor, San JoséDemocrat
Evan LowState Assembly MemberDemocrat
Julie Lythcott-HaimsCity Council Member, Palo Alto Democrat
Joe SimitianSupervisor, Santa Clara CountyDemocrat
Key Supporters
This list represents notable organizations and individuals who have taken a position on the ballot measure or candidate, or who are funding campaigns in support or opposition. This list is not exhaustive, and may be updated.
For Dixon
- Jason Crow, U.S. representative
- Don Davis, U.S. representative
- Jared Golden, U.S. representative
- Pat Ryan, U.S. representative
- Mikie Sherrill, U.S. representative
For Kumar
- Arjun Batra, City Council member, San José
- Nora Campos, former state Assembly member
- Kansen Chu, former state Assembly member
- Lydia Kou, City Council member, Palo Alto
- Our Neighborhood Voices
For Liccardo
- Magdalena Carrasco, former vice mayor, San José
- Rose Herrera, former vice mayor, San José
- Chappie Jones, former vice mayor, San José
- Matt Mahan, mayor, San José
- Greg Scharff, former mayor, Palo Alto
For Low
- Laphonza Butler, U.S. senator
- Ro Khanna, U.S. representative
- Eleni Kounalakis, lieutenant governor, California
- California Labor Federation
- South Bay Labor Council
For Lythcott-Haims
- Cory Booker, U.S. senator
- Jennifer DiBrienza, board member, Palo Alto Unified School District
- Larry Klein, former mayor, Palo Alto
- EMILY’s List
- South Bay YIMBY
For Simitian
- Dev Davis, City Council member, San José
- Anna Eshoo, U.S. representative
- Sergio Jimenez, City Council member, San José
- Pat Showalter, mayor, Mountain View
- Greer Stone, mayor, Palo Alto
Positions on Key IssuesCandidate summaries are based on interviews with the candidates, questionnaires, statements made at debates and public events, and past news coverage.
Candidate summaries are based on interviews with the candidates, questionnaires, statements made at debates and public events, and past news coverage.
Do you support a cease-fire in Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza? Would you support additional U.S. military aid to Israel?
Dixon says in his time as a Marine he served alongside the Israel Defense Forces and oversaw a Palestinian refugee camp in Iraq. “I appreciate the intent behind calls for a cease-fire but I think what is more effective in this case is the creation and the safeguarding of civilian evacuation corridors so that Palestinian civilians on the ground have more than one direction to get out of the line of fire,” he says.
Kumar opposes an immediate cease-fire “because I think the hostages are trapped,” he says. “We have to forge a path for peace, but it begins from dismantling Hamas.” Kumar supports continuing the U.S. relationship with Israel and wants the countries to further collaborate in order to prevent cyberattacks on the U.S. “That partnership is very, very important,” Kumar says.
Liccardo supports a humanitarian pause in the Israel-Hamas war in order to bring aid into Gaza, but adds, “I fundamentally agree with the notion that you cannot negotiate with a terrorist organization that has just killed 1,200 members of your own community.” He says the U.S. should engage with other Arab nations to find a new civil authority for Gaza. “It cannot be one that’s simply bent on the destruction of Israel.”
Low says, “Let us recognize that Hamas is a terrorist organization, and that we must do everything that we can to completely dismantle that terrorist organization. But number two, recognizing that we as taxpayers have an obligation … that we must help ensure that this cannot be sustained for a long period of time.” He says the U.S. commitment to Israel is critical because of Israel’s leadership in the Middle East on LGBTQ rights.
Lythcott-Haims is for a “bilateral humanitarian cease-fire,” while adding, “It’s not that simple — how do you negotiate a cease-fire with a terrorist organization like Hamas?” Lythcott-Haims says as a mother “whose children are half-Jewish, I explored my anguish for what Jewish people and Israelis are experiencing at the hands of Hamas.” She fears Israel’s response is fomenting the “creation of hate toward Israel, because kids are losing their parents and parents are losing their children.”
Simitian says, “Whatever you call it, we want an end to the violence as soon as possible,” while adding, “I understand and support the desire of Israel to essentially remove Hamas from Gaza.” He supports America’s involvement in pursuing a two-state solution.
What immigration policies would you support in the House? How should Congress respond to the record number of apprehensions of migrants at America’s southern border?
Dixon says, “I also served with folks who were immigrants to the country and who believed in the American dream to the extent that they were willing to volunteer to go overseas and fight for it and not all of them came back.” He adds, “If we lose that, we not only lose the fundamental essence of what makes us American, but we lose a lot of the secret sauce of Silicon Valley itself.”
Kumar supports changes to the country’s asylum system. “What’s happening at the border is unsustainable. … Our borders cannot be open because everything we do, we do it legally. So why are we permitting something illegal?” Kumar also wants to protect workers in the H-1B visa program from abuse and remove per-country limitations on employment-based visas. “I think we need to attract this type of talent, but we do it legally,” he adds.
Liccardo supports providing a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants “who have been working here and living here for decades, building lives and families and communities.” Liccardo points to his experience prosecuting drug smuggling and human trafficking as a U.S. attorney. He opposes changes to the asylum system, such as limits on parole authority and “credible fear” standards, which he says “are beyond those that I would consider negotiable.”
Low is in favor of expanding the immigrant workforce for engineering and agricultural jobs. “We simply just don’t have the type of workforce to fill the pipeline that is so required,” Low says. “Why would we educate someone here coming as an international student and then kick them out to become a job creator and a startup in another place?”
Lythcott-Haims wants to ease the processing of asylum claims and adds that “I hope that this country will always be a place that welcomes the tired, huddled masses.” She thinks that “there are a lot of people skeptical about brown immigrants. So when they’re crossing the southern border, certain folks have concerns. When they’re crossing in from Canada or Western Europe, they don't have those concerns. Let’s call that what it is: It is racism.”
Simitian supports American engagement in Central and South American countries where migrants are fleeing from. He also supports increasing judicial staff to deal with asylum claims. “The whole system is broken in terms of simply an inadequate judicial corps to manage those issues,” he says. “So part of the solution, not particularly flashy, is to simply ramp up the ability of the system to deal with the level of demand.”
What policies have you supported and will you support to reduce carbon emissions and help residents deal with the effects of climate change?
Dixon says, “As I think about the world that I want my daughters to inherit, or this next generation to inherit, the habitability of the planet, it’s in question right now, and we have an opportunity to do our best — but it’s right now.” He supports investments in climate-resilient infrastructure and providing job training for clean energy careers.
Kumar vows to invest in technology to combat climate change, such as carbon capture systems. He blasted the California Public Utility Commission’s decision to reduce payments to homeowners with solar panels in order to fund new incentives to help residents purchase rooftop solar systems. “We talk about climate change on one hand ‘Oh, we are so progressive,’ but on the other hand, you’re hurting the solar industry.”
Liccardo wants Congress to enact low-cost financing for homeowners to make climate-friendly investments in their homes, such as rooftop solar, energy storage or home hardening, which makes homes more resistant against fires and storms. As mayor, he helped launch municipal electricity generation supplier San José Clean Energy and supported a ban on natural gas infrastructure in all new construction. “We worked really hard on a strategy that would really decarbonize our grid,” he says.
Low says the district’s representative should keep the climate goals in mind “that we, of course, have reflected in the state of California [while] also using homegrown technologies to get us to that point.” He has voted to extend California’s cap-and-trade program to limit greenhouse gas emissions and a bill banning new oil and gas wells near schools and homes.
Lythcott-Haims touts Palo Alto’s climate goals, such as the city’s push to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030. She supports programs to help residents pay for clean energy upgrades through charges on their utility bills. “So you can pay for your own transition to electric and you can contribute to a pot of money that is going to allow those who can’t personally afford it to make the same transition.”
Simitian says Congress should work on ensuring the nation’s electrical grid is prepared for a transition to clean energy sources. “You've got to make sure we have battery storage so that renewables can be captured and then used when the demand is there,” he says. “These are all things where the federal government can and should play a key role.”
How have you helped and/or how will you help the Bay Area’s transit and housing needs as a member of Congress?
Dixon proposes to tap empty land controlled by the federal government for housing, such as Moffett Field, near Mountain View. “One of the particular talents that I have is being able to go and free up money out of the Pentagon, which has the responsibility still in part for that land and make sure that we get the resources necessary to set the stage to build not just hundreds, but thousands of homes,” he says.
Kumar says he would use the power of the federal purse to make significant changes to transit in the district. He wants to shut down the VTA light rail (“we are burning cash every day with that, nobody’s using it”) and pivot funding from the state’s high-speed rail system toward regional transit needs, such as improving commuter rail between the South Bay and Tri-Valley communities such as Pleasanton and San Ramon.
Liccardo pushed for temporary homes for the homeless during his time as mayor. To help pay for the sites, he is proposing that residents of interim housing be allowed to use federal housing vouchers. He also supports incentives for converting vacant office buildings into housing “in the downtowns where people have access to transit.” He led a campaign to pass the Measure RR sales tax in 2020, creating a dedicated funding source for Caltrain.
Low says, “I am a millennial, and I struggle to be able to afford to live in the community that I currently represent.” In the Legislature, he voted for bills to streamline the approvals of new housing, and in 2019 he voted in support of Assembly Bill 1482, which enacted eviction protections and established caps on rent increases.
Lythcott-Haims wants the federal government to increase investments in affordable housing and help fund the operations, not just the capital projects, for Bay Area transit systems. She touts her work in Palo Alto expanding safe parking for people living in their vehicles and raising height limits on residential buildings to increase density in some areas of the city. “There are all kinds of ways in which we are as a city saying, ‘You know what? We do welcome everybody here.’”
Simitian touts his work on the board of supervisors supporting an affordable housing project for residents with developmental disabilities and orchestrating the purchase and preservation of the Buena Vista Mobile Home Park. “I said … let's think about how we hang onto that supply of affordable housing and prevent 400 people from being out on the street.” He also pushed to redirect local sales tax funding from the BART extension in San José toward other transportation projects.
What do you see as the role of Congress in regulating AI? How will you approach regulation of the tech industry?
Dixon launched his campaign with an AI-assisted video and the political organization he founded, With Honor, is advocating for the U.S. and its allies to develop a shared AI strategy. “The society that creates the rules has to be baking its ethics into it,” Dixon says. “And I would much rather have that be us as Americans versus somebody else, like the Chinese Communist Party.”
Kumar believes Congress needs more representatives with experience in the tech industry. “We see the congressional tech hearings and they become spoof videos in a nanosecond.” Kumar supports regulations that prevent a select few companies from monopolizing the development of artificial intelligence. “We have to ensure that every small startup that is probably happening right now will actually be the next Google,” he adds. “And so I think we cannot create competitive advantages here.”
Liccardo says, “It’s critical that Washington [has] a champion for the innovation economy.” He believes Congress, not European governments or state legislatures, should be taking the lead on tech regulations. “You can’t expect leaders in the innovation economy to navigate a thicket of 50 different laws to determine what exactly the rules are around privacy or AI.”
Low says, “Silicon Valley must send the most ardent supporter of technologies” to Congress, but says he will also focus on “some of the perilous challenges that exist as well, which is that of the displacement of workers and jobs.” In the Legislature, he voted for the California Consumer Privacy Act, which gave residents more control over the collection of their personal information by businesses.
Lythcott-Haims brings experience as an intellectual property litigator in Silicon Valley. She says regulations on AI should be tailored so that they are not too onerous on startups. “We want innovation and we want guardrails so that our amazing inventors, disruptors, futurists can really guide us toward what’s next and do so in a way that tries to ensure that we’re behaving ethically and in a manner that doesn’t harm humans.”
Simitian says Congress will have to “thread that needle” on AI regulations. “How do you foster the innovation and yet protect people against potential harms?” In the state Senate, he served as chair of the Senate Select Committee on Privacy, and in 2002 he wrote the first law in the country mandating entities with databases containing sensitive personal or financial information to notify individuals about a data breach.
Additional Candidates
Joby BernsteinClimate InvestorDemocrat. Bernstein is pursuing an MBA and MS in Climate Science at Stanford. He is focusing his campaign on climate change, touting his “experience, stamina, and commitment to be part of the generational transition that ensures America is prosperous for the next 30 years.”
Ahmed MostafaWomen’s Rights AttorneyDemocrat. Mostafa was the first candidate to call for an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas War. “I would not support additional military aid to Israel,” he says.
Peter OhtakiFormer Council Member, Menlo ParkRepublican. Ohtaki touts his work balancing municipal budgets in Menlo Park and says in Gaza, the U.S. “must stand by Israel against Iran-backed terrorists.”
Karl RyanSmall Business OwnerRepublican. In 2020, Ryan won a seat on the Santa Clara County Republican Party Central Committee, the board of local officials who work to elect Republicans in the county.
Greg Lin TanakaCity Council Member, Palo AltoDemocrat. Tanaka supports policies to boost the use of nuclear and renewable energy and wants to reduce airplane noise in the district.
Get weekly election reporting from KQED’s Political Breakdown newsletter.
To learn more about how we use your information, please read our privacy policy.
Signed up.
More San Mateo County Key Races
Board of Supervisors, District 1
Candidate with majority vote wins seat. If no candidate reaches majority, top two candidates advance to runoff in general election.
Jackie Speier68.6%
20,353 votes
Ann Schneider31.3%
9,297 votes
Updated at 6:56 PM PT on April 4, 2024
San Mateo County
San Mateo County
Board of Supervisors, District 4
Candidate with majority vote wins seat. If no candidate reaches majority, top two candidates advance to runoff in general election.
Lisa Gauthier45.5%
10,358 votes
Antonio Lopez25.2%
5,730 votes
Maggie Cornejo15.2%
3,460 votes
Updated at 6:56 PM PT on April 4, 2024
San Mateo County
San Mateo County
Marc Berman (D)(incumbent)57.3%
67,106 votes
Lydia Kou (D)20.2%
23,699 votes
Gus Mattammal (R)11.3%
13,277 votes
Race called at 6:13 PM PT on March 11, 2024
99% of votes countedAssociated PressThis percentage is an Associated Press estimate of how much of the vote in an election has been counted. It is informed by turnout in recent elections, details on votes cast in advance and – after polls close – early returns. The estimate may fluctuate as election officials report additional results and AP learns more about how many voters have cast a ballot.
99% of votes countedAssociated PressThis percentage is an Associated Press estimate of how much of the vote in an election has been counted. It is informed by turnout in recent elections, details on votes cast in advance and – after polls close – early returns. The estimate may fluctuate as election officials report additional results and AP learns more about how many voters have cast a ballot.
More Santa Clara County Key Races
Board of Supervisors, District 2
Candidate with majority vote wins seat. If no candidate reaches majority, top two candidates advance to runoff in general election.
Betty Duong31.8%
14,031 votes
Madison Nguyen29%
12,794 votes
Corina Herrera-Loera23.8%
10,519 votes
Updated at 7:05 PM PT on April 4, 2024
Santa Clara County
Santa Clara County
Board of Supervisors, District 5
Candidate with majority vote wins seat. If no candidate reaches majority, top two candidates advance to runoff in general election.
Margaret Abe-Koga41.9%
37,172 votes
Sally J. Lieber24.7%
21,962 votes
Peter C. Fung20.1%
17,892 votes
Updated at 7:05 PM PT on April 4, 2024
Santa Clara County
Santa Clara County
Marc Berman (D)(incumbent)57.3%
67,106 votes
Lydia Kou (D)20.2%
23,699 votes
Gus Mattammal (R)11.3%
13,277 votes
Race called at 6:13 PM PT on March 11, 2024
99% of votes countedAssociated PressThis percentage is an Associated Press estimate of how much of the vote in an election has been counted. It is informed by turnout in recent elections, details on votes cast in advance and – after polls close – early returns. The estimate may fluctuate as election officials report additional results and AP learns more about how many voters have cast a ballot.
99% of votes countedAssociated PressThis percentage is an Associated Press estimate of how much of the vote in an election has been counted. It is informed by turnout in recent elections, details on votes cast in advance and – after polls close – early returns. The estimate may fluctuate as election officials report additional results and AP learns more about how many voters have cast a ballot.