The lone Republican on the ballot in the state Senate race, Alex Glew, is in second place by only 620 votes with additional counting only in Santa Clara County where former Assemblywoman Sally Lieber does much better than Mr. Glew. If Alex Glew is in the runoff against Josh Becker of Menlo Park, Becker will likely win 2-1. If Sally Lieber makes the top-two against a fellow Democrat, it would be close in November.

Sally Lieber should sue the four special interest groups that spent total of $373,094.83 in mailers, online ads, research and consultants intended to smear her reputation. Have no idea what Lyft and Dentists and Edison Electric have to do with each other but the individuals responsible need to be called out. Since Trump took over 3 years ago, anything goes. After all if the POTUS can indulge in name calling, smearing of reputations and bullying, then it must be OK right???

The groups are funded by medical malpractice insurers, Chevron, Lyft, the California Dentist Association and Edison International, the business arm of Southern California Edison, the utility company. Web Link

So with San Mateo County done counting, we will need to see whether the lead there for Alex Glew over Sally Lieber is overcome by more votes to be counted just in Santa Clara County. The trouble (for Sally Lieber) is that the 13th State Senate District is two-thirds in San Mateo County and 5 of 6 candidates got many votes in both counties. Closing the gap seems unlikely. As to the hit pieces, my reaction was (as I posted on an article), that they were dishonest hit pieces from thinly disguised special interests. I saw that Sally Lieber tried to respond to the hit pieces - at least in this area. I do not know about the whole district. Voters mostly waited until the last 3 days to vote. But many voted earlier. While we can only guess without more information and polling, I would guess that the hit pieces will have kept Sally Lieber out of the runoff (if she falls short). And if Mr. Glew (or, with a Ph.D. from Stanford, Dr. Glew if he prefers) is in the runoff as a Republican against Democrat Josh Becker, there just is no real contest for the seat in November - absent a huge scandal. Registered Republicans are 22% (if I recall) in the District.

State Senate district 13 is 49% registered Democrats, 32% no party affiliation and just 15% registered Republicans.

So. Let's see if I am up-to-date and counting correctly. It appears counting in San Mateo County has been completed. There, Alex Glew received 32,624 votes ahead of Sally Lieber with 23,082 - a deficit of 9,542 votes to make a runoff against top vote-getter/Democrat Josh Becker. Vote counting continues in Santa Clara County. The last count reported online has Democrat Lieber with 24,658 votes ahead of Republican Glew with 15,934 - a lead of 8,924 votes. So currently Sally Lieber is short in Santa Clara County of closing the gap by 618 votes. In a big field of candidates, that is a big gap to close. But the questions are how many ballots must still be counted in Santa Clara County and whether those ballots would be sufficiently more for Sally Leiber than is the overall trend. I am afraid Sally Lieber will come up a little short. And I say "afraid" partly because (as I stated above) a Republican has virtually no chance (absent a huge scandal or untimely death) of winning in a November runoff in the 13th state Senate District. Special interests may not even offer to fund a runoff campaign by Alex Glew. But at least both Becker and Glew have said they oppose the likes of SB 50, for example, a proposed state law that would have authorized development applicants to erect mid-rise multi-family market-rate housing (with little or no onsite parking) in every residential neighborhood in the District.