Liz Lawler jumped out to an early lead over Rob Rennie in the 28th Assembly District race, according to election results released at 9pm June 7.
Lawler, a Monte Sereno city councilmember who is the lone Republican in the race against three Democrats, garnered 31.3% of the vote, while Rennie, the current mayor of Los Gatos, had 29.5%, early results show.
Retired Santa Cruz County Clerk Gail Pellerin and union organizer Joe Thompson rounded out the race with 29% and 10% of the votes, respectively.
The top two vote-getters in the primary election head to the general election in November. Lawler led Rennie by 629 votes, while Rennie was clinging to a 144-vote lead over third-place Pellerin.
The newly redrawn Assembly District 28 includes Los Gatos and also covers north Santa Cruz County, Morgan Hill and southern San Jose.
Lawler, a native of Los Angeles, moved to Monte Sereno with her family in 2013, and was elected to the city council in 2018, serving a year as mayor in 2020. She earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from UC Berkeley.
As the first results came trickling in on June 7, both Lawler and Rennie were in the middle of attending their respective council meetings.
Rennie, who has worked for decades in the semiconductor and solar industries, has served on various boards before being elected to the Town Council in 2014, and previously served as mayor in 2018. Rennie holds a master’s degree in engineering from Dartmouth College, and has been living in Los Gatos since 1997.
In other races, Anna Eshoo appears headed to the November runoff in the redrawn 16th Congressional District, which includes Los Gatos, southwestern Santa Clara County, portions of San Jose and most of San Mateo County.
The Democrat had secured 51% of the vote as of 9pm June 7, with fellow Democrat Rishi Kumar a distant second with 15% in the eight-candidate race. Eshoo was first elected to Congress in 1992, and has remained in her seat since.
Measure A, which limits Valley Water board members to no more than four consecutive four-year terms, garnered a majority of voters in support, at 54% in favor.
The measure would extend the district’s current practice of three consecutive four-year terms for its board members.
