Physician Ami Bera (D) won a hotly contested House seat over incumbent Dan Lungren (R). (Randy Payne/Flickr)

The election blog is coming to an end soon <sniff!> so this is the last update I’ll be posting on those stubbornly close races. Most of them were decided yesterday. There are still 1.7 million votes [PDF] to count statewide.

Jump for joy or read ‘em and weep. Counties have until December 7 to send final counts to the state. The secretary of state must certify the election by December 14.

Many of the close races we have kept an eye on are in Alameda County which finished counting votes yesterday. Here is an update on all the races we’ve been following:

Congressional Races

• Bera v. Lungren (7th Congressional District): Physician Ami Bera (D) defeated incumbent Dan Lungren (R). This was Bera’s second attempt to defeat Lungren; he received 51.5 percent of the vote. This race was considered one of the most critical across the country, and SuperPAC money flowed in.

• Bilbray v. Peters (52nd Congressional District): In this San Diego race, Democrat Scott Peters (D) flipped another Republican seat to the Democrat House tally. Peters beat incumbent Brian Bilbray with 50.7 percent of the vote.

Assembly Races

• Ong v. Quirk (District 20): In this Alameda County Dem-on-Dem race, Bill Quirk squeaked out victory over Filipina-American Jennifer Ong with 50.3 percent of the vote. That’s a 93 vote margin of victory out of more than 133,000 cast.
• Bloom v. Butler (District 50): In another Dem-on-Dem race where LA Weekly says all the rich, white, liberal people in Los Angeles live, Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom leads incumbent Betsy Butler with 50.1 percent of the votes. Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters is still counting ballots.
• Norby v. Quirk-Silva (newly drawn District 65): Republican Chris Norby conceded yesterday. Sharon Quirk-Silva (D) won with 51.6 percent of the vote in this Orange County race.

Ballot Measures

• Alameda County Measure B1: This race may have been the tightest of all. The transportation tax needed a two-thirds majority to win — that’s 66.67 percent. “Yes on B1″ earned 66.53 percent of the vote. That’s right — the “yes” vote lost by .14 percent of the vote. There you have it — every vote counts. If you’re wondering about recounts — the Alameda County Registrar of Voters says a party must wait until the vote is certified, request the recount within five days…  and pay for it themselves.

• Berkeley Measures S and T: “S” was known as “sit/lie,” and “T” changed zoning in West Berkeley. Measure S was defeated by 52.3 to 47.7 percent. Measure T was turned back by 50.51 percent of the voters.

Supervisors

• Crowley v. Yee: San Francisco County Supervisors District 7. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Norman Yee defeated F.X. Crowley by 131 votes.
• Roberts v. Danon: San Diego County Supervisors. Steve Danon conceded the race to Dave Roberts on Thursday.

Voters from the Sacramento suburbs ousted the veteran lawmaker in the race for the state’s newly redrawn 7th Congressional District. This was the second attempt for Bera, a 45-year-old physician who failed to unseat Lungren two years ago.

The Associated Press called the race for Bera on Thursday. He defeated Lungren 51.1 percent to 48.9 percent.

Bera’s win adds to Democratic gains in California’s congressional races. The state’s majority party benefited from an independent redistricting process that was in full effect for the first time this year.

Before the Nov. 6 election, California’s congressional delegation had 33 Democrats, 19 Republicans and one vacancy in a Democratic district.

Dan Lungren and Ami Bera are locked in a tighter than tight race. (Photos: Republican Conference and Randy Bayne via Flickr)

The number of too-close-to-call races is shrinking. Many counties continued to count votes over the holiday weekend. They have until December 7 to report their final results.The secretary of state will certify the election by December 14.

Of special note in these races is the make up of the California Congressional delegation. You’ve heard all about the Democratic supermajority in the state legislature.

At the national level, California Democrats have also gained ground. In the current Congress, the 112th, Democrats hold 34 of 53 House seats. In the new Congress, the 113th, Democrats have definitively picked up two seats, a sure total of 36 seats. There are two other races too-close-to-call, but it’s looking like Democrats will win. That would bring California’s Democratic Congressional delegation to 38 seats out of 53.

Here is an update on the races we’ve been following:

Congressional Races

• Bera v. Lungren (7th Congressional District): This race was not updated over the weekend. Bera (D) leads Lungren (R) by 1,779 votes. (105,245 to 103,466)

• Bilbray v. Peters (52nd Congressional District): Peters (D) has extended his lead over Bilbray (R) in this San Diego race. On Friday, Peters led by 814 votes; now he’s up by 1,899.
• Ruiz v. Bono Mack (36th Congressional District): ICYMI: Bono Mack conceded this race last Friday.

Assembly Races

• Bloom v. Butler (District 50): In this Dem-on-Dem race in Los Angeles County, Bloom has seen his narrow lead over Butler shrink from 218 votes on Friday to 103 votes early this morning.
• Norby v. Quirk-Silva (District 65): Democrat Quirk-Silva was leading Republican Norby by 607 votes on Friday. Official reports early this morning show Quirk-Silva now up by 2,222 votes.

Ballot Measures

• Alameda County Measure B1: The transportation tax is trailing by more than 4,000 votes. The Oakland Tribune reports the county counted 93,000 ballots — nearly all precinct and mail ballots — over the weekend. B1 has gained 65.79 percent of the vote; it needs two-thirds to pass. Thousands of provisional ballots have yet to be counted, but 4,200 votes is a lot of ground to make up.
• Berkeley Measures S and T: “S” is “sit/lie” and “T” changes zoning in West Berkeley. “Yes on T” had been picking up votes until Friday. But official reports last night show it behind by 472 votes. “Yes on S” is trailing by 1,417 votes.

Supervisors

• Crowley v. Yee: San Francisco County Supervisors District 7. Yee has extended his lead from 1,156 to 1,315 votes, as reported late yesterday afternoon.
• Roberts v. Danon: San Diego County Supervisors. Roberts also extended his lead over Danon from 1,898 votes to 2,641 votes.

In this 2008 photo, workers sort California mail in ballots. (Justin Sullivan: Getty Images)

With estimates that for the first time vote-by-mail will exceed in-person voting in California, county voting officials are presumably working hard to get all votes counted. Counties are required to report their final results by December 7, and the secretary of state will certify the election by December 14.

In the meantime well over a million mail and provisional ballots are still being counted statewide.

Here are the races still too close to call:

Congressional Races

• Bera v. Lungren (7th Congressional District): The political newsletter The Nooner reports that Bera is ahead by 182 votes with 193,000 uncounted ballots. Next update is Friday, 3pm.
• Bilbray v. Peters (52nd Congressional District): Only a few hundred votes separate the San Diego candidates.
• Ruiz v. Bono Mack (36th Congressional District): Ruiz is ahead, and local media have called the race for him. But Bono Mack has yet to concede.

Assembly Races

• Bloom v. Butler (District 50): In Los Angeles County, only a few hundred votes separate the two.
• Norby v. Quirk-Silva (District 65): Several hundred votes separate the candidates in Orange County.

Ballot Measures

• Alameda County Measure B1 (Transportation): About one percentage point shy of the two-thirds needed for passage, with roughly 100,000 mail/provisional ballots still to count. Could be “several days” before we know the results, the Alameda County Registrar of Voters told the Chronicle.
• Berkeley Measures S and T: “S” is “sit/lie” and “T” changes zoning in West Berkeley. The most-recent numbers show yes on T trailing by only 26 votes. S is not quite as close. UPDATE, 7am, Friday, November 9: “Yes on T” has pulled ahead by one vote. The counting continues.

Supervisors

• Crowley v. Yee: San Francisco County Supervisors District Seven. Counting votes could take until next week.
• Roberts v. Danon: San Diego County Supervisors

Other too-close-to-call races or measures we should know about? Tell us in the comments section!

Dan Lungren and Ami Bera are locked in a tighter than tight race. (Photos: Republican Conference and Randy Bayne via Flickr)

Democrat Ami Bera is currently up by 184 votes over incumbent Republican Dan Lungren in the District 7 House Race. And while the outcome of that particular contest is not going to determine control of Congress or anything; and while you are, also, not exactly in the habit of ascribing actual human emotions to people running for office…

If you put yourself in the place of the two candidates beyond the remembrance of their depictions in campaign ads that interrupted “Here Comes Honey Boo,” you may eventually get to a place where you realize how, for the contestants, such a close race must really suck.

Here’s Scott Shafer’s interview with Steve Westly about what it was like emotionally to get snagged on this type of nailbiting vote count, and what the candidates who do face from a logistical standpoint.

“You’ve been running with every bit of energy you have for two years nonstop and you finally get to election day and your whole psyche is based on are you going to win or not, and then you realize you’re in a close race, and you watch into the wee hours of the morning. And in my case, they literally, county by county, dismissed the vote counters at midnight or one and they still had votes to count and it was still a tie. So you’re stuck… It dragged on for I believe 21 days, and it is a little nervewracking…”

Scott Shafer interviews Steve Westly:

Olague campaign consultant Enrique Pearce has already told the Chronicle that “barring some sort of miracle, London Breed is going to be the next supervisor for District Five.” The Examiner, SF Weekly and ABC News have crowned Breed the winner,  not to mention her campaign’s Facebook page.

Christina Olague, no longer District 5's supervisor

You will recall, naturally, how l’affaire Mirkarimi insinuated itself into this race. Olague was appointed by Mayor Ed Lee to replace Mirkarimi after he won election as sheriff. Then, well, you remember the rest.
(For the love of God please don’t make us recap it again.)

But long story short: Olague was one of four supervisors to defy Ed Lee and vote not to remove Mirkarimi on an official misconduct charge related to a domestic violence incident between him and his wife. Lee did not withdraw his endorsement of Olague but he was plenty mad, and some of his political allies took aim at the erstwhile recipient of the mayor’s largesse. There was talk of a recall, and the Chronicle reported that Tony Winnicker, a Lee advisor and former press secretary, sent Olague a text that said, “As your constituent, you disgust me. You are the most ungrateful and dishonorable person ever to serve on the board. You should resign in disgrace.”

Anti-domestic violence advocates also released an 11th-hour attack ad against Olague criticizing her for her vote against removing  Mirkarimi from office. That couldn’t have helped.

What's more awkward than two belles sharing the same stage in the same dress? Two political candidates from the same party in a knock-down, drag-out fight to the bitter finish in November!

Granted, California was not a swing state in the presidential election. We’re so dominated by Democrats, it’s hard to imagine anybody so much as blinked when Barack Obama won here. And Dianne Feinstein’s next term in the U.S. Senate? Even loyal Republicans were calling that one for her before the ballots were published.

But even in a True Blue state like this one, there was plenty of blood spilled in the California delegation to the House of Representatives. Between the way Congressional districts were redrawn after the last US Census and the state’s new top-two primary system, the stage was set for some high-pitched theater in two Republican districts and six Democratic ones. You might think that Democratic Party leaders would gather in some smoke-filled room somewhere in California and make the decisions required to avoid one party member going up against another. That’s not how it played out.

Exhibit A: The “Battle of the Ermans”

There used to be two liberal Jewish Democratic Congressional Districts nestled against each other in LA County’s San Fernando Valley. And then there was one.

Awwk-ward. Who would step aside?

Would it be Howard Berman, a senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee? Or Brad Sherman, less senior but the more familiar face to most of the voters in the new 30th district? The open primary in June was set up to send the top two winners, regardless of party affiliation, into the general election in November.

The battle became one of the most expensive congressional races in the country. Altogether, Politico calculates some $15 million was spent. At the height — or low — of the fight, Berman and Sherman appeared to come close to blows at a local candidate forum. Berman even used the icky moment in a campaign ad.

Remember, there’s about a hair’s worth of difference between these two guys politically. They both supported the Dream Act, for example. They co-sponsored the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).

“I did not go into politics to run against Howard Berman,” Sherman said last night, rather graciously after his 21-point win. But run against him, he did.

So how did the other same-party Congressional races play out? From the Secretary of State:

• CD 8 – Republicans Paul Cook over Gregg Imus

• CD 15 – Democrats Eric Swalwell over Pete Stark

• CD 31 – Republicans Gary Miller over Bob Dutton

• CD 35 – Democrats Gloria Negrete McLeod over Joe Baca

• CD 40 – Democrats Lucille Roybal-Allard over David Sanchez

• CD 43 – Democrats Maxine Waters over Bob Flores

• CD 44 – Democrats Janice Hahn over Laura Richardson

Mary Prime-Lawrence canvasses East Oakland voters for GO. (Lillian Mongeau/KQED)

The role of money in politics is a big issue in many elections this year – including the race for four seats on the Oakland Schools Board of Education.

A local non-profit, the teachers’ union, and the board candidates themselves are expected to spend more than $300,000 on seats that have been uncontested in more than half the races since 2004.

Mary Prime-Lawrence is a dozen doors into her list of registered voters on 88th Avenue in East Oakland. She’s standing in the dark hallway of a rundown fourplex. Most people haven’t been home, so she smiles when the deadbolt slides open.

“Hi there. Is Michelle Logan in? Are you Michelle? She’s not here right now? Can I leave some information for her? If you can give her that. James Harris is running for school board. We hope she can give him her support November 6,” Prime-Lawrence asks.

After 40 minutes, Prime-Lawrence has met only two of the voters she’s looking for. The low numbers haven’t dampened her conviction that this is the right way to spend her Saturday morning.

“In Oakland if you are un- or under-educated, you are more likely to get pregnant, get someone pregnant. Be involved in gangs, in drugs, in violence. It’s a life and death issue for some people, for some children,” she says.

Prime-Lawrence, a mother of three, lives nearby and teaches afterschool math at a charter school. She’s working with “Great Oakland Public Schools,” known around town as “GO.” The group is campaigning for big changes in Oakland’s schools. They want schools to have more autonomy and a better teacher evaluation system, and they want bond measures that support both traditional and charter schools.

And they want school board members who will make all that come to pass.

“The school board is really important in Oakland,” says GO’s Managing Director Jessica Stewart. “They control a $600 million budget. They choose the superintendent. They just make really important policy decisions for our kids.”

This is GO’s first political campaign and its political action committee has raised $184,000 to spend on supporting the three candidates and two ballot initiatives they’ve endorsed. In addition to dozens of small donations, GO has received three checks for $50,000 each. Two came from individuals: conservative philanthropist Gary Rogers of Oakland and moderate venture capitalist Arthur Rock of San Francisco. The third is from the California Charter Schools Association.

The city’s teachers’ union is backing different school board candidates. The union says it’s concerned about the motives of GO’s big donors.

“It’s just not healthy for democracy when two people can come in and just flood an election with huge amounts of money,” says Steve Neat, vice president of the Oakland Education Association, the city’s teachers’ union. “I’m sure they’re expecting to get something for that kind of investment. Nobody puts $50,000 into a campaign unless they expect something back in my opinion.”

Both Neat and Stewart say they welcome the competition.

The groups also agree on several other points. Both want the state to spend more money on K-12 education, smaller class sizes in schools and for more Oakland grads to go to college. But they often disagree, sometimes profoundly, on how to get there. GO’s heavy duty fundraising illustrates that point, and Stewart makes no apologies.

“We’re just doing whatever it takes because this really matters. This is a one in four years opportunity to have four seats up on the school board,” she says.  “And we’re in this to win it.”

Whoever wins will have to take on budget challenges, the new union contract, controversies over charter schools and how to tackle the job of educating all of Oakland’s kids.

Construction companies are pumping tens of thousands of dollars into the race for the Bay Area Rapid Transit board in an effort to unseat incumbent Director Lynette Sweet.

Photo by Thor Swift for The Bay Citizen

The construction firms accuse Sweet of meddling in bids for BART construction work and are backing 25-year-old Zakhary Mallett, who until recently was a UC Berkeley graduate student. Sweet’s backers counter that she is being punished for standing up to BART contractors who shortchange and discriminate against minority subcontractors.

The heated contest underscores a fact that often goes unnoticed by the 400,000 daily BART riders: One of the transit agency’s main functions is handing out billions of dollars in contracts for construction, track repair and new BART cars. This year alone, the transit agency has awarded $2 billion in contracts. The board’s elections and policies often are shaped by contractors who have a financial interest in the outcome. In the upcoming election, 44 percent of the money donated to the 13 candidates vying for five open seats on the BART board has come from companies or employees of companies that have done – or want to do – business with BART, according to an analysis by The Bay Citizen. Another 14 percent of all donations are coming from unions, including some that soon will be negotiating new contracts with BART management.

When companies have bids pending with BART, they are limited to $1,000 campaign donations. But the transit agency imposes no other limits on fundraising. The setup has led to accusations that BART directors favor their donors. BART Director James Fang recently was accused of a conflict of interest for advocating a development deal at the Millbrae station for a friend and campaign contributor who gave him $3,500.

In District 7, which stretches from San Francisco to Contra Costa County, Sweet is facing a challenge from Maria Alegria, a recalled Pinole City Council member; Margaret Gordon, a former Port of Oakland commissioner; and Mallett.

Even though Mallett is making his first run for office, he has raised the most money of the four, with $32,000. Most of that has come from contractors who disagree with Sweet over her support for some minority-owned businesses. Three Taber Construction employees donated a total of $9,500, and United Contractors, an association of union-affiliated contractors headquartered in San Ramon, donated $13,000.

This year, Sweet, who is African American, voted against giving contracts to Taber and other companies that she said were not complying with BART requirements that a certain percentage of some projects go to minority- and women-owned firms. Most of the $16,000 that Sweet has raised has come from BART minority contractors, including $5,000 from executives at Tom’s Metal Specialists, who said Sweet stood up for them when they were treated unfairly by Taber Construction.

In May, the owners of several Asian-owned companies attended a BART board meeting to complain that Taber was shortchanging them on projects and that Taber employees hurled racial epithets at them. At the time, Taber owner Bret Taber denied the allegations and said an investigation found no merit to claims of discrimination.

Emily Cohen, director of government relations for United Contractors, said many contractors would like to see Sweet off the board.

“We’ve had some pretty major issues with Lynette Sweet,” Cohen said. “She’s just been very, very hostile to the industry. She believes in promoting certain minority businesses over others as opposed to a fair bid environment.”

Mallet said in an interview that he sympathized with his financial backers’ concerns.

“Lynette Sweet has intruded into procurement processes in order to support minority- and woman-owned businesses,” said Mallett, who also is African American. “I am not against minority-owned businesses – I am a minority myself – but not at the expense of providing local jobs to impoverished workers.”

For example, Mallett said, Sweet was wrong to vote against a $23 million contract for Lathrop Construction Associates to work on the eBART extension to Brentwood. At the June meeting, Sweet said she was upset that Lathrop had not reached the goal that BART had set of 23 percent minority-owned subcontractors. Lathrop instead had 1.9 percent.

Mallett, who earned his master’s degree in city planning from UC Berkeley this year, said he was surprised by how much money he had raised for his first run for public office.

“I do make clear to each of these contractors, ‘I am not going to give you any special favors,’ ” Mallett said.

Sweet accused the construction companies of going out and “buying a candidate.”

“They can’t be accused of racism if they also go and find someone who’s also African American,” Sweet said. “They own him, and if he wins, that spotlight that I put on them will go away.”

In District 5, BART board President John McPartland, who represents the southern part of Alameda County, is running against John Maher, a former BART employee and union leader. McPartland is winning the fundraising race with nearly 60 percent of his donations this year coming from BART contractors and another 25 percent coming from the unions.

Three candidates are vying for the District 3 spot left vacant by Bob Franklin that covers parts of Oakland, Berkeley and other cities in Alameda County. Rebecca Saltzman, who works as a policy manager for the California League of Conservation Voters, is facing off against BART employee Anthony Pegram and attorney Fred Wright Lopez.

Saltzman has raised the most money, though a very low percentage is coming from BART contractors.

In San Francisco’s District 9, longtime incumbent Tom Radulovich, first elected in 1996, is facing off with attorney Peter Klivans and Luke Lucas, a mobility manager. No one in the race has raised much money, and Klivans is funding his own campaign.

Radulovich, who has raised $1,500 from unions but nothing from BART contractors, said he understands why his fellow directors turn to contractors for money.

“It’s hard to raise money for a BART race,” Radulovich said. “People, broadly speaking, aren’t that interested.”

Republican City Councilman Carl DeMaio (left) and Democratic Congressman Bob Filner (right) are facing off in the San Diego mayor's race. (Images: DeMaio and Filner campaigns)

On a sunny day this fall, Republican city councilman Carl DeMaio and San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders walked through a local, bayside park to a podium surrounded by a barrage of news cameras and reporters.

It was a good day for DeMaio. The mayor, a fellow Republican, was endorsing him — despite the two being long time political foes.

“Only one candidate has demonstrated the detailed knowledge of our city that will be required from his first day on the job.” Sanders intoned. “Only one candidate has the focus and the energy that will sustain him through difficult times. That candidate is Carl DeMaio.”

Sanders’ endorsement was followed a few days later by the announcement that Democratic philanthropist Irwin Jacobs was also supporting DeMaio.

But it hasn’t been a bad season for Democratic Congressman Bob Filner either. He’s consistently led in the mayoral polls. Still, as the election draws closer, the outcome is becoming harder to predict. Different polls yield different results. In mid-October one poll gave Filner a seven point lead, while another put DeMaio ten points ahead.

The politically charged atmosphere around the mayor’s race is unusual for San Diego. Carl Luna, professor of political science at San Diego Mesa College, says that’s because San Diego voters are used to having two moderate Republicans facing off — not a race between two people from opposite ends of the political spectrum. Luna says the way the power players in the city are lining up reminds him of a popular book turned movie.

“It’s kind of like that movie, Hunger Games, where you get the city center and the districts,” Luna says. “You’ve got a downtown, more business, pro-Republican element. That group went strongly for Carl DeMaio. The labor unions are all going for Bob Filner.”

To political observers the divide isn’t surprising. Despite attempts to move to the middle, both candidates are seen as being firmly within the bounds of their political parties. Filner is viewed as a classic Democrat who often touts Civil Rights era arrest and two-month stint in jail for taking part in a Freedom Ride.

At a debate hosted by the San Diego Police Officers Association and the local taxpayers association, Filner scoffed at DeMaio’s suggestion that he turn down his pension if elected.

“Every working person deserves a pension. Every working person deserves that security that 30 years of work … are going to give that person,” Filner said. “So, I ain’t gonna turn it down. I earned that!”

DeMaio, in turn, has staked his reputation on being a fiscal conservative. He champions outsourcing some city services. He led the effort to eliminate pensions for most new city employees in San Diego.

At the debate DeMaio blasted Filner saying that Filner misrepresents how he would spend taxpayer dollars.

“But they would have gone to your special interest masters, the government employee labor union bosses, to continue unsustainable pension payouts rather than restore the services that are important to our working families,” DeMaio said.

But politics is all about getting votes, and there are plenty up for grabs in San Diego. The latest polls show 13 to 18 percent of likely voters are still undecided. In an attempt to capture those voters, Filner and DeMaio have been working to bring out their softer sides. DeMaio made his case at a debate sponsored by KPBS.

“My coalition represents Democrats, Republicans, Independents. From all around our city and all walks of life. We all love San Diego and that is a tie that unites,” DeMaio said.

Filner says he’s made his way up from the local school board to Congress because he can work with people.

“You’re elected because you’re a leader,” Filner said, “because you can bring those people together and get things done. That’s the hallmark of my career.”

Whichever man is elected, he’ll have plenty to tackle right out of the gate. City infrastructure, civic projects and, of course, San Diego’s financial recovery will all be waiting for the new mayor on day one.