Bay Area voters on Tuesday could decide who will complete the final few months of Eric Swalwell’s term after he abruptly resigned from Congress in April amid sexual assault allegations.
Mr. Swalwell, a Democrat, had already prepared to vacate his seat in January because he was running for governor. But his early departure from the House, where Republicans have a narrow majority, was unexpected.
Since 2013, he had represented a swath of the East Bay, including parts of Fremont, Hayward and Livermore. When Mr. Swalwell resigned, Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, called for a special election to determine who would fill the seat for the rest of his term, which is set to end on Jan. 3.
On Tuesday, East Bay voters will choose from 11 candidates. If no single candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote, the top two finishers will compete in a runoff on Aug. 18.
This will be the second time this month that Bay Area voters have considered replacements for Mr. Swalwell. Two weeks ago, in a primary on June 2, voters cast ballots to determine who would advance to the general election for the 14th Congressional District to replace Mr. Swalwell for the next full two-year term, which begins in January 2027.
In that election, Aisha Wahab, a Democratic state senator from the region, received 38 percent of the vote. Melissa Hernandez, a Bay Area Rapid Transit board member running as a Democrat, received 17 percent of the vote. The two women will face each other in November.
Both Ms. Wahab and Ms. Hernandez will appear on the ballot on Tuesday in the race to fill the remainder of Mr. Swalwell’s term. So will the candidates who came in third and fourth: Wendy Huang, a retired tech executive who is a Republican; and Rakhi Israni Singh, a local lawyer who is running as a Democrat.
The district lines for the two races are similar but not identical because California redrew boundaries last year as part of a gerrymander effort to benefit Democrats in response to Republican moves in other states. So some voters who participated in the June 2 election will not cast ballots in the special election.
If voters on Tuesday pick Ms. Wahab or Ms. Hernandez to complete Mr. Swalwell’s term through the end of the year, the winner would have an advantage heading into the November election.
The winner would immediately begin serving in Congress, gaining experience and name recognition. And if a candidate wins the race outright on Tuesday, that candidate would be able to have “U.S. Representative” next to it on the November ballot.
However, if the race goes to a runoff in August, the candidates would miss a July 28 deadline to change their ballot description, said Cynthia Cornejo, acting registrar of voters for Alameda County.
