Democratic Assemblymember Evan Low made it official today, saying he filed paperwork to launch his expected bid for Silicon Valley’s coveted 16th District seat in Congress.
If elected, Low, 40, would be the first openly LGBTQ congress member to represent the Bay Area and the fourth openly LGBTQ person elected to Congress from California.
The Campbell lawmaker’s endorsements include several of the state’s sitting members of Congress, including Democratic Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Santa Clara), Judy Chu (D-Pasadena) and Mark Takano (D-Riverside).
Low told Politico ahead of Tuesday’s announcement that he considers himself a “fighter” and said he is prepared to defend the rights of LGBTQ people in Congress. He denounced House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) conservative record on LGBTQ rights, which has put some civil rights advocates on high alert.
“Given that we have the most homophobic speaker in generations, the best way to combat that is to send more openly LGBT individuals to Congress,” he told the national online political news site.
Low’s entry in the race completes a trifecta of local political heavyweights vying for the seat to be vacated by Democrat Anna Eshoo, who last month announced she would not seek re-election to a 17th term. Veteran state lawmaker and Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian and former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo filed their congressional paperwork last week. Liccard has not yet formally announced his candidacy.
With the March 5 primary just three months away and a campaign period interrupted by the holidays, the candidates – a total of five Democrats and two Republicans so far – have a big fundraising challenge ahead of them because of Eshoo’s 11th-hour retirement announcement.
Simitian is off to head start. He has been quietly building up his Friends of Joe Simitian congressional campaign account for a decade. It totalled $681,004 as of Sept. 30, according to the Federal Election Commission.
Liccardo just began his fundraising campaign last weekend.
Low has been raising money all year for another campaign for the 26th Assembly District, but that $2.4 million war chest is not automatically accessible for his congressional campaign.
“Federal Election Commission regulations prohibit transfers of funds or assets from a non-federal campaign committee to a federal committee of the same candidate,” a spokesman for the commission told San Jose Inside this week.
The only way Low can use any of that money for the 16th District race is to refund the Assembly campaign money to contributors and at the same time ask each contributor to donate the money back to his congressional campaign, according to the FEC.
The state’s Fair Political Practices Commission allows candidates to transfer campaign funds leftover after an election to a new bank account for a future election to seek a different office, so long as the funds are not “surplus funds,” according to a FPPC spokesperson. But that applies to state and local offices, not to the federal congressional elections.
Low isn't saying exactly how he is going to tap into that Assembly campaign treasure chest, but his Campaign Advisor Whitney Larsen responded this way to San Jose Inside: “We began fundraising this morning and are already seeing the enthusiasm of our supporters through the donations that are coming in. We are confident that we will raise all of the funds necessary to communicate to voters in the district and win this race. All activity from state and federal accounts will comply with applicable laws, respectively.”
Eshoo has nearly $600,000 sitting in her campaign account, but federal candidates’ contributions to other federal candidates from their campaign funds are limited to $2,000 per election, the FEC spokesperson told San Jose Inside.
Low currently chairs the Assembly’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus in Sacramento and serves as a co-chair of the Legislative Technology and Innovation Caucus. He is the former chair of the state Assembly’s LGBTQ Caucus.
The five-term lawmaker got his start in politics in 2006, when he became the first Asian American and openly gay person elected to Campbell city council. In 2009, Low was elected mayor of Campbell, making him the youngest Asian American mayor in the country at the time.
The other candidates in the open primary are Republicans Karl Ryan and Peter Ohtaki and Democrats Rishi Kumar and Joby Bernstein.
The 16th District is one of the most affluent, highly educated and politically independent of Bay Area congressional districts. About 40% of voters in the district live in San Jose.
The 2022 totals of registered voters in the district, as compiled by the California Secretary of State, showed 52.5% Democrats, 26.8% No Party Preference and 16.3% Republicans.
Evan Low is another Covid tyrant.
AB2098, which Low sponsored to muzzle doctors (and which was ultimately repealed in the face of a lawsuit challenging its constitutionality before implementation), should be disqualifying for any office of public trust.
If you think Bay Area voters are too smart to vote for this jackboot stepper, who literally authored a law to block informed consent, let me relieve you of your ignorance. This is just the kind of authoritarian leftist Bay Area proles jump up and down, seal-clapping their fins and bark for.
In the words of our worst Vice President ever, Supervisor Similarion, the poster boy for stuffed-shirt faceless bureaucrats, is as sexy as cold fries and equally as forgettable. And I must hand it to Liccardo, how one man can have the lettuce face to run for office after his stint in San Jose is awe-inspiring. Really, one can only “fail upward” so far.
I hope.
I don’t see anything standing in Herr Low’s way.
I wholeheartedly agree, some political actions are worthy of disqualification of a candidate due to its anti-American intent!
Low isn’t a bad guy, but his voting record is disturbing and his votes have made CA considerably less safe. He’s voted to end the practice of automatically adding an extra year to a defendant’s sentence if they had previously served time for a felony. He voted for bills to end mandatory minimum sentences for “nonviolent” drug offenses. He voted to severely limited the state gang enhancement laws. He supported the repeal of sentencing enhancements including those involving guns used in crimes.
Low’s seems more like a Scott Wiener jr and I think the more people look into his voting record the more turned off they will be. Low went “Full Progressive”….. you never go full progressive.
Dear Community,
Though Plata Arroyo Park is not in his District, the LGBTQ+Issues are in his WHEEL-HOUSE.
Plata Arroyo Skate Park has been hijacked by thugs.
Both Women (Chicks and Bowls) and the LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY Skaters have been excluded.
To deal with this issue, we sent Evan Low a message. Funny, we have not heard back about support for our Mural Project – that we sponsored and the City of San Jose is Funding – that had the LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY AND COLORS displayed clearly to show Safety and Inclusiveness at the Skatepark.
The LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY needs to.remind the Artist and the City of San José Arts Department -PLATA ARROYO PARK AND OUR SKATEPARK ARE FOR EVERYONE.
WE PLANNED THE COLORS TO BE IN THE SPECIFIC PANEL FACING THE PLATA ARROYO SKATEPARK, TO.SHOW THAT WE WELCOMED ALL LGBTQ+ SKATERS.
ITS FUNNY THAT THE CITY FORCED THE ARTIST TO INCLUDE WOMEN IN OUR MURAL- AS WE DEMANDED ALONG WITH THE LGBTQ+ COLORS — BUT THE CITY IS REFUSING TO PUSH THE LGBTQ+ COLORS INTO THE MURAL TO SHOW THAT EVERYONE IS WELCOME AT A PUBLIC TAXPAYERS FUNDED PARK AND SKATEPARK.
BESIDES EVAN LOW, WE SRE ALSO WAITING TO HEAR FROM THE ‘BILLY DE FRANK CENTER AND KEN YEAGER’ AT SAN JOSE STATE.
OUR BOARD IS SUPPORTING THE PLATA ARROYO NEIGHBORHOOD LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY MEMBERS WHO HAVE SUFFERED ABUSE IN OUR COMMUNITY – BY ESTABLISHING OUR INCLUSIVE MURAL COLORS IDEAS.
THE CITY ARTS DEPARTMENT IS REFUSING TO MOVE THE ARTIST TO INCLUDE THE LGBTQ+ COLORS ON A SHIRT, HAT OR SKATEBOARD OF AN INDIVIDUAL PICTURED – LIKE WE PLANNED.
OR
WE WANT THE CLOUDS IN THE MURAL TO BE SOFTLY SHADED IN RAINBOW COLORS SO EVERYONE CAN SEE THAT WE ARE TOTALLY INCLUSIVE AT OUR TAXPAYER FUNDED BUT RESTRICTED USE BY THUGS – SKATEPARK.
We wonder WHY the City is so Exclusionary, rather than Inclusive of our LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY?
SOMEONE ELSE FROM THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY, LIKE EVAN LOW, MIGHT BE ABLE TO BETTER EXPLAIN WHY THEY ARE ACCEPTING THE EXCLUSION ON THE SKATEPARK MURAL PANEL….
WHY IS THE CITY FIGHTING OUR EFFORTS TO DEMONSTRATE TO THE WHOLE WORLD THAT OUR TAXPAYER FUNDED MURAL IS NOT JUST FOR THECADULT THUGS THAT HAVE CHADED WOMEN AND LGBTQ+ SKATERS FROM THE SKATEPARK.
WE DESIGNED THE PROJECT CONCEPT AND NOW WE ARE WONDERING WHY WE ARE PAYING FOR WHAT WE DID NOT ASK FOR?
I COULD BE WRONG, I DOUBT IT THOUGH.
THIS IS WHY WE CONTACTED EVAN LOW, AND WHY WE WILL WAIT PATIENTLY FOR SUPPORT IN THE FORM OF WRITTEN RESPONSES.
Plata Arroyo Neighborhood Association and Gateway East N.A.C. has done its job of protecting everyone at the Skatepark. We need the City to support the Original Discussed Mural Ideas.
IM OPEN FOR DISCUSSIONS.
In Community Spirit,
Danny Garza
President
Plata Arroyo Neighborhood Association and Gateway East N.A.C
LOL at the obvious GOP commenters who know their parties candidate doesn’t have a snowballs chance in he double hockey sticks.
Ms. Corona
I wasn’t aware the GOP existed in the Bay Area, which would explain the area’s decent into “h” “e” “double hockey sticks”…
By all means vote for this guy, I am sure he will arrest anyone who says something against the state or hurts your little feelings. Ya know… good ole American values.