2 more candidates enter the race for Eshoo's District 16 seat
Two more candidates have announced they’re running for Congress to replace District 16’s Anna Eshoo, who is stepping down. There are now nine people vying to fill her seat.
One of the latest candidates to enter the race is currently a Palo Alto city council member and the other is a tech entrepreneur who’s worked for the federal government. They both believe Silicon Valley is a special place with unique issues, and they want a chance to address them.
"I saw a lot of men throw their hats in the ring and I looked left, and I looked right, and I said where are the women?" said Julie Lythcott-Haims, a District 16 candidate for Congress.
Lythcott-Haims says representation matters to her, and she’s now the first woman to announce her candidacy for California’s District 16 seat. She’ currently sits on Palo Alto's city council, is a former Stanford dean, and is a Harvard Law School graduate. Now she says she’s ready to tackle issues like housing affordability in the region.
"Our prosperity has left so many people behind. For example, I’ve got two kids who are 24 and 22. They have done everything right, studied hard, they’re good kids. They get jobs and cannot afford a one-bedroom apartment remotely near where they grew up," Lythcott-Haims said.
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It's official: Evan Low is running for Silicon Valley congressional seat
Silicon Valley Assemblymember Evan Low is running for Congress, hoping to succeed longtime Rep. Anna Eshoo in a crowded field of competitors.
Born and raised in Silicon Valley, Peter Dixon also announced Thursday he’s running for the seat. The former Marine says he used his military expertise to later work for the State Department during Obama’s Administration. He also co-founded a cybersecurity firm.
"For things like housing and education, my big goal here is to go to D.C. and continue to be able to drive resources back to the local community here that it’s coming from," Dixon said.
Dixon says as a father of three, he’s also concerned about the country he fought to protect and what his children may have to face in the future.
"And so, the world that our kids inherit is not getting decided in the next 10 to 20 years, it is getting decided in the next two to five, and each of us needs to decide what we can do to make sure that it is the same world that our founders created when they built this country," Dixon said.
Eshoo’s term ends in 2025. Two candidates will be in a runoff in March of next year.