Sam Liccardo wins Dem-on-Dem race for Silicon Valley seat

Democrat Sam Liccardo has won a bruising intraparty slugfest in the race for an open Silicon Valley House district, picking up the seat held by retiring Rep. Anna Eshoo.

Liccardo, the former mayor of San Jose, defeated fellow Democrat and state Assemblymember Evan Low, according to a projection by the Associated Press. The contest was one of the most contentious and expensive Democrat-on-Democrat House races in the country this November and tested the influence of Big Tech money versus that of labor unions.

The district is one of the deepest blue seats in the country, so it was a given that a Democrat would succeed Eshoo. But Liccardo hails from the party’s more moderate wing and has endorsed proposals like increasing prison sentences of some drug- and theft-related offenses.

Low and labor unions supporting his campaign attacked Liccardo over his record as a former mayor and a city council member, saying his efforts to cut pension benefits caused the city to lose first responders. Low also accused the former mayor of being a puppet for Big Tech’s interests who would overlook the concerns of working people when it comes to issues like job displacement from artificial intelligence.

But Liccardo outraised his opponent by more than $2 million and swamped Low on the airwaves, hitting him with a flurry of negative aids that assailed Low’s record on environmental issues. Liccardo also touted his close relationship with the tech industry, saying the region needs a champion who “understands the innovation economy.”