Jun 11, 2008

Papan concedes Assembly race to Hill

By Shaun Bishop / Daily News Staff Writer

Millbrae Mayor Gina Papan conceded a hard-fought Democratic primary race for state Assembly to San Mateo County Supervisor Jerry Hill on Tuesday night, making the longtime county official the heavy favorite to head to Sacramento in November.

In a statement, Papan said she called Hill on Tuesday "to congratulate him on a race well run" now that most of the provisional ballots that had to be counted after election day have been tallied.

"With the support of so many friends, family and volunteers in less than a year, we came very close. I am enormously proud of the race we ran," she said in the statement. "I am profoundly grateful to those who poured their hearts into our campaign and to all those who voted for me."

Hill could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday night.

Hill will face off against Republican Catherine Brinkman, who won the Republican nomination for the 19th Assembly District seat.

But Hill will likely be favored to succeed the termed-out Gene Mullin representing the heavily Democratic district, which includes San Mateo County cities from the San Francisco County border to San Mateo.

According to election results updated Tuesday, Hill led Papan by 1,011 votes with 37.1 percent of the vote to her 34.5 percent.

Richard Holober, president of the San Mateo Community College District's board, trailed both with 28.4 percent of the vote.

The race was close on election night, with just a few hundred votes separating the candidates and about 25,000 provisional ballots and late absentee ballots still to be counted. But Hill's lead gradually grew as those extra votes were counted.

There are still about 2,000 ballots left to count and results will be updated again on Thursday, said Elections Manager David Tom.

Papan said she will continue to be active in public service and charity causes, including the nonprofit John's Closet that her family started after her brother died of a rare congenital disorder.

Daily News Staff Writer Will Oremus contributed to this report.



E-mail Shaun Bishop at sbishop@dailynewsgroup.com.