Quirk and Ong Likely to Advance in Assembly Race

Though the election results are not yet official, it appears Hayward Councilman Bill Quirk and optometrist Jennifer Ong will advance to the November general election in .

While the race started off close with the top three candidates — Quirk, Ong and Union City Mayor Mark Green — each trailing five percent behind one another, the number of votes each received remained steady as they slowly trickled in late Tuesday night.

According to the Alameda County Registrar of Voters website, Quirk closed the night with 11,773, or 30.2 percent, of the total votes.

Quirk was confident in his apparent win late Tuesday night.

“I’ve got a good start and I’ve got a strong campaign to run in November to win, and I will,” Quirk told Union City Patch Tuesday night.

The June primary was a first for California voters. In it, the two candidates to receive the most votes will move on to the November general election, regardless of their party affiliation.

Based on the early Wednesday morning results, it appears Ong will square off with Quirk in the fall. Both are Democrats. 

The winner of the November election will take the seat of the newly drawn 20th Assembly District, which includes Union City, Hayward, Castro Valley, San Lorenzo, Ashland, Cherryland, Fairview, Sunol and north Fremont. 

Ong, a Hayward resident who practices in Alameda, trailed behind Quirk with 9,717, or 24.92 percent, of the votes.

Green, an Independent, followed with 8,131 votes (20.86 percent). Hayward school board member and sole Republican in the race Luis Reynoso trailed just behind Green with 7,047 (18.08 percent). And in the last place was Union City resident and New Haven Unified School District board member Sarabjit Cheema with 2,250 votes (5.77 percent).

According to her website, Ong, who has been a longtime advocate for healthcare in Sacramento and Washington D.C., also lists creating jobs, cutting crime and supporting education among her priorities.

Quirk also stands for similar issues.

“The reason I’m working so hard to get to Sacramento is just that I’m very concerned about the issues of schools and public safety and jobs,” Quirk said. “I really want to work on these issues and I really want make a difference.”