In the South Bay’s only competitive Assembly race, Patrick Ahrens is leading over Tara Sreekrishnan to fill the Assembly District 26.
As of 9 p.m. on Tuesday, Ahrens , a district director for Assemblymember Evan Low, appears to be ahead with roughly 58.4% of the vote. Sreekrishnan , a deputy chief of staff and legislative director for state Sen. Dave Cortese, is trailing behind with 41.6% of the vote.
The county’s voter turnout is about 35.1% as of 9 p.m. and 368,088 ballots have been cast.
The Assembly 26 seat is open since Low, the incumbent, is running for Congress and did not file for reelection. The district includes Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, Cupertino and parts of West San Jose and Alviso.
Patrick Ahrens said he’s feeling very encouraged by the initial returns.
“I’m incredibly humbled by the votes so far,” he said. “There are a lot of votes left to be counted. I’m feeling overwhelmingly grateful at the culmination of a year of reaching out to the community asking for their support. I’m really encouraged by the results but waiting until vote is counted.”