Politics & Government
Levine Adds to Lead Over Allen in Assembly Race
Though an estimated 25,000 additional ballots need to be counted in Marin, San Rafael councilmember remains in the lead after the latest batch of counted ballots.
With another nearly 12,000 votes tallied in the oh-so-close race to represent the 10th District in the California State Assembly, San Rafael City Councilman Marc Levine has extended his lead over Michael Allen.
On the heels of a heated battle, the two candidates squared off late into the night on Nov. 6, with Levine garnering 50.6 of the 134,715 votes cast in Marin and portions of Sonoma County. After an additional tally on Friday of mail-in and provisional ballots, 74,484 votes are in Levine's column, good for 50.8 percent of the 146,482 counted so far. Allen trails by 2,486 votes.
All is not lost yet for Allen, who moved to San Rafael after the 7th Assembly District he represented that included Napa County and parts of Sonoma and Solano counties was splintered by redistricting. The Marin County Registrar of Voters still has an estimated 25,000 mail-in and provisional ballots to tally.
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In the immediate aftermath of election day, Allen declined to concede the race, saying it was "disrespectful to concede or declare victory at this point. We just need to count the votes."
Levine holds his lead despite being outspent by a considerable margin. Allen received more than $1.4 million in campaign contributions, including $700,000 from independent expenditure committees, while Levine only raised $253,000 in contributions and over $250,000 from independent expenditure committees.
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"Our campaign has defied the odds and emerged from election night with a win. I’m so proud of what we have accomplished," Levine said in an email to his after the election. "Our lead has been consistent since the polls closed, and we fully expect it to continue as final ballots are tallied."
Allen noted that when he was elected in 2010 to the 7th District, Sonoma County officials took the full 28 days alloted to count all the provisional ballots. In the end, he came out on top with around a 1,500 vote lead.
"I've had a long career with lots of victories and lots of defeats," Allen told Patch last week. "In the end you have to leave it to the voters."
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