Diane Papan emerged as the clear front-runner in the race to represent the Peninsula in the state Assembly’s newly drawn 21st district, with results too close to call Tuesday night for challengers Giselle Hale and Republican Mark Gilham also looking to secure a spot in November’s general election.
Papan had 46.4% of the vote, carrying a nearly 10,000 vote lead over Gilham, who had 19.5% of the vote over Hale’s 16.7%. James Coleman meanwhile had received 9.4% of the vote.
“I am honored and proud to have earned the support of the people of San Mateo County — the community where I was born and raised, and where I am raising our own daughter,” Papan said in a statement.
The results are an upset for Hale, who outraised Papan and gained broad support from a coalition of progressive leaders in the district and state, including YIMBY aligned housing advocates.
Hale raised nearly $750,000 for her campaign compared with Papan’s $550,000 — though Hale’s campaign’s been subjected to a barrage of attacks funded in part by over $1 million in independent expenditures. Hale did not return a request for comment.
Papan is the deputy mayor of San Mateo, and also boasts broad support including from Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, former state Sen. Jerry Hill, three members of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, among many others.
Recommended for you
Papan’s bid herself as a consensus builder and problem solver, and said addressing housing affordability and environmental issues would be among her top priorities.
She was first elected to the San Mateo City Council in 2015 and again in 2020, and heads two nonprofits in addition to running her commercial law practice. She is also the daughter of former longtime San Mateo County Assemblymember Lou Papan.
Gilham, meanwhile, has gained notoriety for his QAnon-aligned views, emphasis on strict immigration policy and calls for drastically reducing the government — including switching to a part-time Legislature that meets for just two weeks out of the year.
Coleman, a self-described democratic socialist, serves on the South San Francisco City Council. It was speculated his presence would subtract votes from Hale in the primary.
The open Assembly seat comes after Assemblymember Kevin Mullin, D-South San Francisco, announced he would not seek reelection amid his bid for Congress. Mullin since 2012 has represented the district, which covers the eastern Peninsula from South San Francisco to Redwood City.
To the southwest, Assemblymember Marc Berman, D-Palo Alto, held a wide lead over his sole competitor, Republican candidate Tim Dec in his reelection bid to the newly drawn 23rd district. Berman had gained 75.9% of the vote to Dec’s 24.1%. Both will repeat the campaign for November as the top two head to the general despite there only being two candidates.
Election results in San Mateo County included in Tuesday night’s tally include mailed ballots before Thursday, June 2, and vote center ballots from Election Day. The post-election results releases will be at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 9; Friday, June 17; Monday, June 13; Tuesday, June 21; Wednesday, June 15; Thursday, June 23. The final results will be available Thursday, July 7.
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO
personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who
make comments. Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Anyone violating these rules will be issued a
warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be
revoked.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.