Former U.S. Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-Stockton) leads local businessman Jim Shoemaker (R-Clements) by about 4,300 votes for the right to succeed termed-out California Sen. Susan Talamantes Eggman in the California Senate’s 5th District, unofficial results show.

According to the California Secretary of State’s office, McNerney had 91,382 votes to Shoemaker’s 90,791 early Wednesday in the district that encompasses parts of San Joaquin and Alameda counties. However, in San Joaquin County alone, Shoemaker had about 4,000 more votes than the former Congressman (75,701 to 71,332).

Jerry McNerney greets supporters at a campaign event in Stockton in 2022. The former U.S. representative for California’s 9th congressional district is running for California State Senate District 5. (Photo by Scott Linesburgh/Stocktonia)

Shoemaker told Stocktonia at an election watch party late Tuesday that he remains optimistic about the early votes, hoping for a last-minute upset.

“I feel great actually. I know these are early results and I know that at the end of the day with as much work as we’ve done all over the district and county I think we will pull out and end up winning the seat,” he said.

To pull off the victory, the Republican candidate says it will come down to a crossover vote, where people vote for the opposite party, which he is expecting to see over the course of the week as ballots continue to be counted.

In the event this doesn’t happen, Shoemaker says it will still be a victory as his campaign tried to break the notion that the Democratic stronghold on this seat is unbreakable. Democrats have held the state Senate District 5 since 1988.

Results are broadcast at Denise Aguilar’s and Jim Shoemaker’s election night party in downtown Stockton Tuesday.
Shoemaker at his election night party in downtown Stockton late Tuesday.

“There was no other republican that was going to run for this seat because of the perception that it wasn’t a winnable seat,” Shoemaker said. “A whole lot of us looked at the numbers coming from a grassroots standpoint. Bryan Dahle won San Joaquin County over the Governor and it was like, OK, how does that happen if we are so far Democratic?”

Dahle, the republican candidate for the 2022 California Governor Election won the gubernatorial race in San Joaquin County over Gavin Newsom with 4% of the vote approximately by 6,300 votes.

Stocktonia reached out to a representative for McNerney’s campaign, who did not respond by our deadline.