Mike Thompson

With a dwindling number of ballots still to be counted, Democratic challenger Eric Jones has pulled ahead of Republican Ray Riehle in California’s 4th Congressional District primary.

Because late vote tallies are coming mostly from the district’s bluer areas, Jones is now expected to edge away from Riehle and claim the second runoff spot, setting up an intra-party race against 14-term incumbent Rep. Mike Thompson in November’s general election.

“California elections are always an epic journey, with twists and turns, but this was the expected outcome all along,” Jones told The Press Democrat in a phone interview Friday afternoon after the latest updates in election returns. “Now that it’s clearly here, we’re super energized to take our message to November.”

The series of updates that culminated about 4:15 p.m. Friday showed Jones holding at 22.2% of the vote, while Riehle was at 20.8%. A little more than 3,000 votes separated them, out of 200,000 total processed, an indication of how tight the race for second place has been. As of Friday afternoon, the 4th District was among five California congressional races the Associated Press had yet to call.

The AP estimated 98% of recorded ballots had been tallied in the 4th District by late Friday. Thompson captured 40.9% of the vote.

Jones’ upward swing mirrors the confidence his campaign projected in the days following the June 2 primary. As early as Monday, June 8, when the former venture capitalist still trailed Riehle by 2.8 percentage points — more than 3,600 votes — Jones’ team distributed a press release explaining why they expected him to prevail.

At that point, the Jones campaign was predicting another 48,000 ballots would be counted in Napa, Sonoma and Yolo counties — solidly Democratic areas where Thompson ruled the primary but where Jones was outperforming Riehle among last-minute voters.

More broadly, many Democrats held onto their ballots until Election Day as they measured shifting fortunes in the governor’s race.

California’s 4th District, redrawn in the wake of last year’s statewide passage of Proposition 50, now includes all of Napa, Yolo, Colusa, Yuba and Sutter counties, and parts of Sonoma, Lake, Sacramento and Placer.

Though Thompson, 75, easily finished atop the primary results, Jones insisted the numbers point to the incumbent’s vulnerability. He believes that with an additional five months to build name recognition and talk to voters, he can bridge the gap.

“If the government has been working for you, it would be very logical to keep voting for those in power,” Jones said. “I don’t blame anyone for doing that. But nearly 60 of the voters in this district said, ‘This is not working for us.’ And that makes sense to me. It’s what I’ve heard knocking on doors and at town halls.”

Jones’ team began planning for the general election last week, the candidate added.

His message will not change over the next few months, he said. Jones emphasized how hard life has become for the working poor and elderly in America.

“There are so many people today that are left behind in our country, that don’t even participate in our political system,” Jones, 35, said. “The system isn’t just failing them. It’s taking advantage of them.”

He isn’t the only Democratic challenger in California building a campaign largely on a theme of generational change.

In the 7th District, Sacramento City Councilwoman Mai Vang, 41, is trying to oust incumbent Doris Matsui, 81. Between Doris and her late husband, Bob, the Matsuis have served in the House of Representatives since 1979. And if political newcomer Myla Rahman, 54, is able to edge out Republican Cristian Morales for second place in District 43, she will face Rep. Maxine Waters, 87, currently serving her 18th House term.

That has been a theme nationwide, as Democratic voters have grown increasingly frustrated with their party’s aging leadership and its inability to reign in the Trump administration or get control of ongoing inflation.

Among California’s 52 congressional primary races, it appears at least 42 will end up with traditional Democrat-vs.-Republican faceoffs in the general election.

Seven districts other than the 4th will offer a pair of Democratic rivals in November; three of those are in the Bay Area. The 6th District race will feature a Democrat, Richard Pan, against a candidate with no party preference – Rep. Kevin Kiley, who was a Republican until this year. One Southern California district presents a Republican-vs.-Republican contest.

You can reach Phil Barber at 707-521-5263 or [email protected]. On X (Twitter) @Skinny_Post.