How about that election?

But we ended up with a Democratic nominee of Xavier Becerra, former state attorney general and U.S. health secretary, and a Republican nominee of TV talk show host Steve Hilton. Of the top Democratic candidates, Becerra clearly is the more moderate, certainly the less hardline progressive.

STATE NOTES: Hilton’s showing indicates how energized Republicans were by the initial reports that two Republicans were leading in the early polling. California is still a Democratic state and something bizarre would have to happen for Becerra to lose to Hilton in November. The top-two Republicans, Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, got a combined 39% of the vote; Becerra and Steyer got 45%. … San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, mired waaay down there at 4%, may not be back any time soon, but the tech guys who backed him regard this as a learning experience. Like AI, they expect to grow in sophistication.

CANEPA WINS: The big news was county Supervisor David Canepa’s easy win over Jim Irizarry in the race for assessor-county clerk-recorder-elections chief — better than a 9% margin, based on the latest tallies.

Canepa ran a near-flawless campaign and his win has to feel especially fulfilling given that three of his board colleagues and several other prominent former officeholders had endorsed Irizarry. Canepa took this race seriously, campaigning on relevant issues. He was aided significantly by full-throated support from local labor, and his win is one more demonstration of the powerful political influence of labor council leader Julie Lind.

Four years ago, Canepa may have hit bottom, politically and personally (it often is hard to separate the two); he lost a hard congressional race to Kevin Mullin, a 13-point defeat. Over the years, I have seen how such a loss can unsettle even the most mature political figures and it can take time for someone to regain their bearings.

Canepa spent the intervening time raising his own profile, sometimes quite clumsily, while building a political network that may be unequaled in the county. There are those who say this new job provides an opportunity for Canepa to move beyond his habitual hunger for attention and focus on a job overseeing property taxes, essential public records and elections — apolitical tasks that need to be done right.

LOCAL NOTES: How will the board replace Canepa, who has two more years to go representing District 5? If he times his resignation right, the board could call a special election to replace him and time it with the November general election, saving the county a lot of money. Or they could appoint a replacement. Daly City Councilmember Juslyn Manalo, a Canepa protégé, already has announced she will run for this seat in 2028. The board can let that election unfold, or, depending on their levels of bitterness, they could appoint someone other than Manalo, and make things really interesting. … If the numbers stand up, incumbent Sally Lieber was reelected to the state Board of Equalization with more than 52% of the vote over John Pimentel, the San Mateo County Community College trustee. If he was hoping this could launch him to some higher office, Pimentel will have to look elsewhere; he lost to Lieber by 22 points in his home county. … The absolute top vote-getter on the local ballot: Superior Court judge candidate Brian Donnellan, who got more than 80% of the vote. … There were only three fiscal measures on the ballot this time, including parcel taxes in Brisbane and the Redwood City Elementary School District. As of this writing, both are falling short of the two-thirds needed for passage. This bodes poorly for the wave of tax measures local and regional jurisdictions want to put on the November ballot.

SUBJECT TO CHANGE: All these numbers are based on tallies reported as of Wednesday. The totals will change, although that is unlikely to change the outcomes in most races. It is anyone’s guess how many ballots remain to be counted. It is anyone’s guess why San Mateo County takes a day off from posting new numbers.