Sunnyvale’s newest councilmember squeaked through a tight race that ended with a difference of just one vote.
Murali Srinivasan, an engineer, finally emerged as the winner of District 3 last week after securing 2,813 votes. He became the first Indian councilmember elected in Sunnyvale and the first candidate chosen to represent District 3, which was formed in 2020 after the city voted to switch to a district-based electoral system, and drew six districts based on U.S. Census data.
His opponent, Justin Wang, finished the race with 2,812 votes. Srinivasan was declared the winner after the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters conducted an automatic recount of the votes and determined that the results hadn’t changed, according to City Clerk David Carnahan.
Srinivasan and new District 5 councilmember Richard Mehlinger will be sworn in at a council meeting on Jan. 3, Carnahan said.
Srinivasan said he felt the results were “a victory for democracy” — not because of his own victory, but because he felt District 3 voters had a more robust turnout than expected.
“If you look at District 5 and District 3, we pulled nearly 1,100 more votes,” Srinivasan said. “It’s definitely a great victory for democracy and District 3 voters — credit should go to them.”
He added that waiting for election results was “interesting and stressful.” Wang initially had the lead in the race and maintained that lead for over three weeks until the last day of the vote count.
“The interesting thing is, as an engineer, I look for some trends,” Srinivasan said. “And the trend was in my favor, in the sense that the number of votes I was trailing by was decreasing. So, provided that there were enough uncounted ballots, I knew it would become closer and closer.”
He said he feels honored to represent District 3 for the first time, as well as to represent the Indian American community within Sunnyvale’s local government. Upon taking office, he hopes to address Sunnyvale’s most important issues, such as climate change and lack of access to affordable housing, as well as work on ways to boost civic engagement in the city.
“What I want to accomplish is to have the residents participate in local policy and the local governance of Sunnyvale as a city,” Srinivasan said. “I want residents’ voices to be heard … in addition to whatever mechanisms we have, such as sending emails, contacting the council members and speaking at council meetings, we need to come up with other mechanisms for more participation from the residents.”
He also thinks Wang would have both represented the city well, though he views himself as a more “pragmatic” candidate. He added that he hopes to see Wang continue to be involved in local politics and the life of the city.
Wang was not immediately available for comment. But during his campaign, Wang ran on a platform of policy expertise and community involvement, emphasizing his past affiliation with the advocacy group Livable Sunnyvale and touting a deep knowledge of the city’s issues and ways to potentially solve them.
“There’s no two ways about it – we need to work together for the betterment of the city and community,” he said. “It’s not just District 3, it’s the entire city of Sunnyvale … my opponent’s experience and work is very, very valuable. His help will definitely be sought after.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com