Live Results: California special primary election to replace Eric Swalwell

Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/live-results-california-special-primary-election-to-replace-eric-swalwell Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Live Results: California special primary election to replace Eric Swalwell Politics Jun 16, 2026 1:34 PM EDT WASHINGTON (AP) — Bay Area voters previously represented by Democratic former U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell will narrow down a field of nearly a dozen candidates hoping to replace him in a special congressional primary on Tuesday. For several of these candidates, it's the second time in two weeks that they have appeared on a ballot for this U.S. House seat. A Democratic hold in the heavily Democratic district would further tighten an already thin Republican majority in the U.S. House. READ MORE: California's slow ballot count makes it a target for critics. It doesn't mean elections are rigged Swalwell resigned from Congress in April following sexual-assault allegations he has denied. He also withdrew from the California governor's race, in which he was a top contender. Educate your inbox Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else. There are two campaigns underway for Swalwell's former seat. One is a regularly scheduled election to serve in the next Congress for a term that starts in January 2027. The other is Tuesday's special primary to serve out the remaining 15 weeks of Swalwell's term. Among the Democrats running in the special primary for the abbreviated term in the 14th District are former Dublin mayor and Bay Area Rapid Transit board member Melissa Hernandez, state Sen. Aisha Wahab and attorney and education entrepreneur Rakhi Israni Singh. Republican candidates include real estate investor Wendy Huang and small business owner Dena Maldonado. Unless a candidate wins the seat outright by receiving a majority of the vote, the top two finishers regardless of party will advance to a special general election on Aug. 18. California has a top-two primary system in which all candidates run on the same ballot. These five candidates also ran in the June 2 primary for the full-term seat in a slightly smaller field of nine. Wahab and Hernandez placed first and second, guaranteeing the seat will remain in Democratic hands next year. READ MORE: What to watch in midterm primaries and runoffs in Alabama, Georgia, D.C. and more The boundaries of the 14th Congressional District were redrawn as part of a new congressional map approved by voters in a 2025 statewide ballot measure known as Proposition 50. The map goes into effect for the full-term seat in January, while the winner of the special election will serve under the current boundaries for the remainder of the year. Proposition 50 was placed on the ballot in response to mid-decade redistricting efforts led by President Donald Trump in several Republican-controlled states. While the plan created a congressional map more fav