South Bay Incumbent State Assemblymembers Avoid 2022 Showdown

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA — A pillow fight was the closest that Assemblymembers Evan Low and Marc Berman came to facing off against each other.

Instead of running for re-election next year in the same district after California’s new Assembly districts were finalized last week, Low and Berman will instead run for separate districts and avoid a showdown between the two Democrats in the heavily blue South Bay.

Low (D-Campbell), currently serves southwestern Santa Clara County, including Los Gatos, Saratoga, Campbell and parts of Cupertino and San Jose. Berman (D-Palo Alto) serves Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Palo Alto and Menlo Park and all of San Mateo County to the west of Interstate 280.

But under the new map, Berman’s current district was renamed Assembly District 23 and cuts down into Saratoga and Campbell — where Low lives.

Assemblymembers must live in the district that they represent.

Meanwhile, another district, Assembly District 26, was created that includes Sunnyvale, Cupertino and Santa Clara.

Berman announced Monday that he was running for Assembly District 23, while Low announced his candidacy for the 26th district, implying that he planned to move into the new district.

Last Thursday, Low and Berman appeared in a TikTok in which they staged a pillow fight in a parking lot under the text, “There’s only one way to settle a fight” — alluding to the 2022 election.

But on Monday, Low tweeted: “I’m honored to announce that I will be running for re-election in Silicon Valley’s newly formed Assembly District 26. The last two years have shown that the Legislature has more work to do on behalf of South Bay residents and I am excited for the opportunity to continue serving.”

Berman said in a statement that it had been a “tremendous honor” to represent his current district and that he looks forward to “representing new communities on the Coastside and in the South Bay in the new 23rd AD,” according to the Palo Alto Weekly.

Low has served in the state Assembly since 2014 and Berman since 2016.