A trio of candidates in the race for the Santa Clara County District Three Board of Supervisors seat narrowed to two at the outcome of the June 3 primary election.
If uncounted absentee ballots do not change the outcome, San Jose Vice Mayor Dave Cortese and Sunnyvale City Councilman Otto Lee will vie for a run-off election in November, since no one candidate received more than 50 percent of the total vote.
Milpitas Mayor Jose Esteves came in a close third, about 690 votes short of Lee's second-place finish.
Cortese garnered 12,980 votes, or 42.6 percent of votes cast, to Lee's 9,075 votes, or 29.8 percent of votes cast.
Esteves received 8,384 votes, or 27.5 percent of votes cast, with all precincts reporting.
Countywide, 64,440 votes were cast at precincts, for a 9 percent turnout. A reported 115,191 mail-in ballots were cast, or 16.1 percent, out of the county's 715,492 registered voters.
Following the general election run-off on Nov. 4, the victor will replace termed-out Supervisor Pete McHugh, who oversees a district that includes Milpitas, Sunnyvale and the Alviso, Berryessa and Evergreen areas of San Jose.
The morning after the election, Lee was still hesitant to claim a second-place victory, saying the
"I don't want to predetermine anything," Lee said.
Lee, who raised and spent about $230,000 to compete in the primary, sent out a blitz of mailers the weekend prior to election day.
He added that he planned to raise nearly $250,000 the legal campaign fund-raising cap for the November race.
Lee said he appreciated the "professional" campaigns Cortese and Esteves ran.
"They are both role models to me; I have learned a lot from them."
Esteves said he was disappointed in the outcome.
"Of course it's not the best, but I'm just happy because with the limited resources that we had I did a good showing," he said, adding he raised only one third about $70,000 of what his opponents raised.
Esteves also suggested that low voter turnout in Milpitas, Berryessa and other parts of the district also affected the race.
Esteves praised the support he received from his volunteers and District Three residents.
"I'm very happy with the big number of supporters and volunteers," he said.
Despite the anemic voter turnout, Cortese was excited about his first-place finish and the fact that voters supported his campaign.
"This was an extremely well organized campaign," Cortese said, adding his core 400 volunteers helped him clinch the top spot.
Cortese said he spent $250,000, though he raised more than that extra monies going toward the November race.
The morning after the primary, Cortese said he was in Milpitas and other parts of the district meeting voters.
"We're on a major roll now, and we've gained a lot of momentum," he said. "As any candidate will tell you, it's not an easy task to hold on to that momentum."
Font Resize