It was a good night for the incumbents in the Coastside U.S. Congressional races. Tom Lantos and Anna Eshoo _ both Democratic candidates _ were overwhelmingly re-elected on Tuesday to the 12th and 14th district seats, respectively.
Eshoo, whose district begins at Pillar Point Harbor and extends south through Half Moon Bay, defeated her Republican opponent, Ben Brink, 76,312 votes to 35,354, with 59.4 percent of the precincts reporting.
Lantos, whose district encompasses Moss Beach, Montara, and Devil's Slide, was elected by a 46.2 percent margin over his Republican challenger, Storm Jenkins, 120,656 votes to 40,897, with 87.4 percent of precincts reporting. It marked the ninth time Lantos gained election to the seat.
Eshoo is also becoming a Congressional veteran: she was first elected to the 14th-district seat in 1992, and has now been re-elected twice.
"It's a great honor," Eshoo said of her re-election. "We go into election day knowing that the power resides with the people, so this is a wonderful vote of confidence."
Eshoo said she looks forward to meeting the new representatives in Congress, and that she will continue working with the Commerce Committee, which she says is "vitally important to the people" of the 14th district.
Moreover, Eshoo was excited by the results of the presidential election, which incumbent President Clinton won in a landslide.
"The president and vice president have consistently, over the past four years, been held in very good regard in my district," Eshoo said. "It's a great and important victory, and I look forward to working with them."
Meanwhile, Brink, who ran against Eshoo two years ago for the 14th district seat, was gracious in defeat.
"Clearly this is Anna's year, and the Democrats' year," Brink said. "They did a better job getting their message out."
Brink also said he would consider running a third time for the seat, but would first have to re-evaluate a few things about his campaign.
"I'm not a perennial runner _ I don't do this for fun," Brink said. "We need to evaluate it, and see if it's possible for a Republican to win in this district. If the party wants me to run, and if the people want me to run, I will seriously consider it."
Neither Lantos nor Jenkins could be reached for comment.