Obama Election May Cause Political Shifts in San Mateo County

With the election of Barak Obama to the Presidency, politicians and officials from across the nation are on pins and needles awaiting a call from the superstar President-Elect to serve in his administration.

This is true for South Bay Congressman Mike Honda who, according to a recent article in the San Jose Mercury News, may be in the running for the position of Secretary of Education.

In the article Honda is quoted as saying: "If I don't throw my name out, it won't show up in the mix.”

Honda, who has 30 years in public education including stints as a San Jose middle school principal and San Jose Unified School Board member, has served in Congress since 2001.

Should Honda be tapped for the position it would set off a veritable game musical chairs as local and state officials seek to fill voids left by those in higher office.

The logical heavyweight in the mix is State Senator Joe Simitian who was just elected to his second a final four-year term. Should Honda get the nod, Simitian, whose senate district overlaps a bit with Honda’s congressional district, would be on the odds-on favorite to succeed Honda.

Challengers may include termed-out Assemblywoman Sally Lieber or second-term Assemblyman Jim Beall. Although Lieber has already opened a campaign fund to run for the 13th Senate District Seat that will be vacated by second term State Senator Elaine Alquist in 2012, according to the Secretary of State’s Web site.

However, Beall may opt to take a run at the state senate seat vacated by Simitian in what would likely be a special election in the spring of 2009. Beall would undoubtedly face Assemblyman Ira Ruskin who is now in his third and final term.

Should either Ruskin or Beall win the seat, a vacated Assembly seat would then be available causing another special election.

Likely candidates to fill Ruskin’s seat should he be successful could include Santa Clara County Supervisor Liz Kniss or San Mateo County Supervisor’s Rose Jacobs Gibson or Rich Gordon.

Should one of the Supervisors exit early a scrum at the local level would be likely, which in turn would lead to scrums lower down the ticket.

According to the Mercury News article, however, Honda may have some heavyweight competition including: former Secretary of State Colin Powell; Caroline Kennedy; and the school chiefs of New York City and Chicago; and Stanford education professor Linda Darling Hammond, an adviser to Barack Obama during the campaign.

But the clock is ticking. It is likely that the President-Elect will make his selections before the end of the year and prior to taking office in January. It is a good bet that many local politicians have taken notice and begun preparations for what could be months of electoral volatility.

*Note: The Fifteenth Congressional District encompasses much of the central, northeastern and southwestern area of Santa Clara County. This includes the cities of Cupertino, Milpitas, Santa Clara, Campbell, Los Gatos, the west and some southern parts of San Jose, and Gilroy.