Ro Khanna

For the first time since Rep. Ro Khanna ousted Rep. Mike Honda from his seat a decade ago, the Silicon Valley congressmember appeared to face a serious challenger in tech entrepreneur Ethan Agarwal. But in early returns on election night, Agarwal trailed in fourth place.

Khanna led overwhelmingly in his reelection bid with nearly 61% of the vote, according to early returns posted to the Secretary of State’s Office at 8:41 p.m. Republican retired accountant Jennie Ha Phan was a distance second with 15.1% of the vote, followed by Republican entrepreneur Ritesh Tandon with 14.3% and then Agarwal with 4.6% of the vote.

The top two vote-getters, regardless of political party, will move onto the November runoff.

Early returns reflected only a small segment of ballots mailed to voters. It was unclear how many total ballots will be cast as they can arrive up to a week later and be counted, and many won’t be returned.

Khanna, who has a $16 million war chest, according to a May 13 campaign filing, struck a nerve with some Democrats last year when he chimed in on a proposed California wealth tax that has deeply divided his party.

“I will miss them very much,” Khanna wrote in a sarcastic social media quip in response to news that the proposed one-time 5% tax on the state’s billionaires was driving Google cofounder Larry Page and venture capitalist Peter Thiel out of California.

The post triggered backlash from some in the tech industry and Agarwal, who had briefly mounted a campaign for governor, decided to jump into the Congressional District 17 race. Among his backers were Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan and angel investor Ron Conway. Khanna has maintained that he has not lost support from the tech industry.

The district spans part of Alameda and Santa Clara counties and is one of the wealthiest congressional districts in the country, according to U.S. Census data.

Two other Silicon Valley congressmembers also were running for reelection on Tuesday.

District 18 Rep. Zoe Lofgren is looking to win her 17th consecutive term this year. On election night, she led with nearly 50% of the vote followed by Republican engineer Shane Lewis with 33.5% and Luis Arreguín, a Democrat and community college professor, at 14.5%.

District 16 Rep. Sam Liccardo, whose election to congress two years ago included a stunning recount during the primary after two of his opponents initially tied for second place, also led after early returns. Liccardo, a former San Jose mayor, had more than 70% of the vote followed by Republican investor Peter Sundin Soulé with 13.8% and Republican law student Kevin Johnson with 12.8%.