Gordon wins primary

Gordon, the current president of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, earned 38.7 percent of the vote, according to election returns from both San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.

Becker won 31.5 percent of the vote and Kishimoto won 29.8 percent of the vote, according to the Secretary of State website.

Gordon edged out both candidates in both counties, according to last night’s election results.

Although Gordon was not willing to declare victory last night, he was pleased to go to bed with the lead.

"I’m very happy with the trends,” he said just before midnight.

Election results came in slow in both counties, however, giving Gordon’s opponents hope that his lead might shrink by this morning.

"It is too early to concede,” Kishimoto said. "But I’m happy to congratulate Rich Gordon if he wins.”

Becker did not concede the race either.

"I’m back to work tomorrow regardless of the outcome,” Becker said. "I went up against two candidates that had been in office a long time with a lot of name recognition.”

It was Becker’s first campaign.

Gordon’s opponents in the November general election, Conlon and Bell Jr., ran unopposed.

The winner of November’s election will replace state Assemblyman Ira Ruskin, D-Redwood City, who is being termed out of office.

Gordon, 61, easily outdistanced both his opponents in San Mateo County with the race being much closer in Santa Clara County. Kishimoto is the former mayor of Palo Alto and Becker is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur.

Gordon won 43 percent of the vote in San Mateo County and 35.6 percent of the vote in Santa Clara.

Assembly District 21 stretches from San Carlos to the north down to the Almaden Valley in San Jose and includes the cities of Menlo Park, Palo Alto, Mountain View, Sunnyvale and Redwood City.

Gordon told the Daily Journal his first piece of legislation if he wins the November general election will be a comprehensive budget reform bill that would establish a two-year budget cycle and create a reserve policy.

Gordon is the most politically experienced of the three Democratic candidates, having served on the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors for the past 12 years. He worked in the nonprofit sector for 20 years and was a minister before that. He also won a seat on the county’s Board of Education in 1992 and 1996.

In 2008, Gordon was the president of the State Association of County Governments, offering him the chance to travel the state to hear issues vital to other communities.

As supervisor, Gordon helped create the Children’s Health Initiative and helped end a dispute between farmers and the Mid-Peninsula Open Space District to protect open space on the coast while avoiding eminent domain.

Gordon looks to follow Ruskin’s work on education in the state Assembly and hopes to earn a seat on the education committee.

It is also key, Gordon said, to eliminate the two-thirds majority needed to pass a state budget.

The state’s budget deficit is $20 billion this year.

He is also a proponent of looking at retirement packages for state employees and possibly rolling back benefits to save the state money.

Gordon amassed $425,000 for his campaign.  

Becker raised $302,000 and Kishimoto raised $206,000.

Becker, 41, touted himself as the "innovation” Democrat and said the state’s woeful budget could be fixed, in part, by growing green-technology business. He entered the race late and had an early lead in fundraising efforts.

"I’m going to stay actively involved in the community,” Becker said, who sits on the boards of eight nonprofit agencies.

"It was a big district to campaign in but the campaign went great,” he said.

Kishimoto, 54, served on the Palo Alto City Council for eight years, serving as mayor in 2008. She co-authored "The Third Century: America’s Resurgence in the Asian Era” and was the first elected official to officially oppose a plan to build 12,000 new homes at the Cargill Saltworks site in Redwood City, helping to earn an endorsement from the Sierra Club.

"We stuck with the issues and avoided negative campaign tactics,” said Kishimoto, who has not ruled out running for elected office again.

Bill Silverfarb can be reached by e-mail: silverfarb@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 106.