Giselle Hale Poised To Advance To Runoff For State Assembly Race

SAN MATEO COUNTY, CA — Redwood City Mayor Giselle Hale appears poised to face San Mateo Deputy Mayor Diane Papan in the November general election in the race for the 21st Assembly District seat.

Hale passed Mark Gilham for the second spot after trailing Gilham after Election Day and for a while afterwards. But with around 8,000 votes left to tally, Hale has 18,128 votes compared to 17,971 for Gilham, steadily closing the gap and surpassing Gilham.

"To the general election we go!" Hale tweeted on Friday.

The deficit for Hale was near 1,800 votes around Election Day.

If Hale holds on, it would lead to matchup between two Democrats in the general election. If Gilham — a Republican — holds on, Papan would likely have an easier road in November in a deeply blue district.

Papan leads the primary with 42 percent of the vote.

In a game of local political musical chairs, the seat is open after Kevin Mullin (D-South San Francisco) announced he wouldn't seek reelection and instead run to represent the area in Congress, with Jackie Speier (D-San Mateo) stepping away from her seat after this year.

The redrawn district is similar to what was referred to previously as the 22nd District, stretching from South San Francisco to East Palo Alto.

The moves mean a majority of the Peninsula will have fresh representation in both the state Assembly and Congress for the first time in more than a decade, as Mullin has held the seat since 2012.