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Swalwell seat in play
Democrats Aisha Wahab and Melissa Hernandez went head-to-head in a California special election for the 14th Congressional District seat vacated by Rep. Eric Swalwell, who resigned in April amid sexual misconduct allegations that he has denied.
“With 62% of the votes counted, Wahab is leading by 51%-49%”
With 62% of the votes counted, Wahab led Hernandez 51%-49% after polls closed Tuesday night, according to The Jerusalem Post.
The race was set up as a runoff after neither candidate won a majority in the June 16 special primary, where Wahab received 42.8% and Hernandez received 16.8%, and both advanced to the November general election.
The seat is for the remainder of Swalwell’s term, and the winner will serve until January, while Wahab and Hernandez will face each other again in November for a full two-year term, according to Foreign Policy Journal and Sacramento Bee.
In the same contest, Wahab said in an April debate that she would have voted “yes” when asked whether Israel’s war in Gaza constituted a genocide, while Hernandez declined to give a yes-or-no answer and said Israel had a right to defend itself after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks but that the “destruction in Gaza has gone too far,” as described by The Jerusalem Post.
Outside money and Israel
The contest drew heavy outside spending tied to AIPAC and its allies, with The Jerusalem Post saying the United Democracy Project poured close to $2.5 million into boosting Hernandez and attacking Wahab, while Bold America spent roughly $1.8 million.
KQED described the runoff as “a proxy war for larger divides between moderate and progressive Democrats,” and said outside spending and outside influences threw Democratic divisions over Israel and party leadership into stark relief.
Hernandez told the Pleasanton Weekly that she had “no say over independent expenditures,” adding that “That is the law, and I see them when you do,” while Wahab attributed the volume of AIPAC spending to “pure racism and prejudice,” according to The Jerusalem Post.
During a Thursday appearance on Hasan Piker’s livestream, Wahab said she would have voted for the Stop the Bombs Act and supported ending all US aid to Israel, while stipulating that “humanitarian aid is important to me too,” as reported by The Jerusalem Post.
KQED also quoted Hernandez saying she was “heartened by the gains she made since finishing well behind Wahab in the special election primary,” and said the two would again face off in November after the special election winner completes Swalwell’s term through the end of the year.
What’s at stake next
The runoff’s outcome determines who will temporarily fill Swalwell’s seat, with KTVU saying the winner will serve out the remainder of his term after he resigned from Congress amid sexual assault allegations that torpedoed his campaign for California governor.
“his former Bay Area constituents will choose a replacement Tuesday to serve out the remainder of his term”
Beyond the immediate seat, the sources say Wahab and Hernandez will meet again in November for the next congressional two-year term, and the district’s boundaries are set to change for the full-term seat that begins in January 2027, according to ABC7 Bay Area.
ABC7 Bay Area reported that United Democracy Project spent $1.2 million on the race in August in support of Hernandez and in opposition to Wahab, while Bold America spent about $1.7 million since the special primary, and that collectively outside groups spent about $4.1 million on the race since mid-July.
CBS News Bay Area framed the stakes as the seat remaining under Democratic control and further narrowing an already fragile Republican majority in the U.S. House, while also noting that the race has been highly contentious with outside groups affiliated with AIPAC.
In a statement to CBS News Bay Area, Wahab said, “This district is vacant for one reason: Eric Swalwell's heinous actions,” and also accused “AIPAC and my opponent's supporters” of “resorting to lies, desperate personal attacks, and racist dog whistles,” as the campaign heads toward the next phase.
