With less than 1,500 ballots left, mostly provisional, Maya Esparza seems to have won the rematch against incumbent D7 San Jose City Councilmember Tam Nguyen. This is district where Vietnamese-American and Hispanic voters dominate the electorate. Each group represents 1/3 of the total registered voters.
Four years ago in 2014, Nguyen won by 209 votes with a total of 13,675 ballots cast. This year, with 14,214 cast (and still counting), Nguyen is behind by 397 votes. Nguyen will have a tough time catching up since these remaining ballots tend to favor Esparza.
For years, experts have recited about the power of the swing vote of Latino and Asian communities. Actually, in cities like San Jose, where there is a majority-minority, the white vote is the swing vote.
In San Jose, Hispanics compose 35% of the population, while Asians is 33% and the non-Hispanic whites is 28%. There are currently 4 Hispanic councilmembers. With the likely addition of Esparza, San Jose will make history of having 5 Hispanic majority presiding the City Council.
Note that there are five states where there majority - minority as of 2016 - Hawaii, New Mexico, California, Texas and Nevada. Majority-minority is defined as population is composed of less than 50% non-Hispanic whites.
Four years ago in 2014, Nguyen won by 209 votes with a total of 13,675 ballots cast. This year, with 14,214 cast (and still counting), Nguyen is behind by 397 votes. Nguyen will have a tough time catching up since these remaining ballots tend to favor Esparza.
For years, experts have recited about the power of the swing vote of Latino and Asian communities. Actually, in cities like San Jose, where there is a majority-minority, the white vote is the swing vote.
In San Jose, Hispanics compose 35% of the population, while Asians is 33% and the non-Hispanic whites is 28%. There are currently 4 Hispanic councilmembers. With the likely addition of Esparza, San Jose will make history of having 5 Hispanic majority presiding the City Council.
Note that there are five states where there majority - minority as of 2016 - Hawaii, New Mexico, California, Texas and Nevada. Majority-minority is defined as population is composed of less than 50% non-Hispanic whites.
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