Honda Surges Past Opponents in Race for Bay Area Congressional Seat

A newly-released poll shows Bay Area Democratic incumbent Congressman Mike Honda leading all candidates, including his biggest rival, fellow Democrat Ro Khanna, in a heated four-way race. 

Based on the results, it is likely the two men will face off in November’s general elections for Honda’s seat in the 17th Congressional District.

The poll conducted by Survey USA, on behalf of San Francisco’s KPIX-TV, shows Mike Honda (Democrat) at 40%, Ro Khanna (Democrat) at 21%, Vanila Singh (Republican) at 8%, and Joel Vanlandingham (Republican) at 6%. There is a plus or minus 4% margin of error in the poll, which was released on Friday, according to BayArea political tracking blog ibabuzz.com. 

Up until recently, Republican dark horse candidate Dr. Vanila Singh was polling ahead of Khanna, who has spent the most money of all the candidates on advertising, including double what Mike Honda has spent. Khanna has spent $2.7 million, while Honda has pumped $1.2 million into his campaign. However, Honda has more cash on hand than Khanna, which has given him a more even-keeled playing field with which to potentially duke it out ahead of the big day.

What it may come down to is the independent vote, which accounts for 32% of District 17’s registered voters. Khanna is trending ahead of Honda in that area and is also projected as being more likely to sway votes from his two Republican rivals–Singh, who, like Khanna, is of Indian descent, and Vanlandingham–according to ibabuzz.com.