Rao won't concede AD 15 primary

Republican Assembly candidate Robert Rao said he's not ready to concede the 15th Assembly District primary until all votes are counted.

Rao, a small businessman from Livermore, is about 280 votes behind San Ramon Mayor Abram Wilson in the district, with about 2,500 provisional and absentee ballots still to be counted in Contra Costa County.

"I think we'll let the math make that call," Rao said. "It's too close for any kind of speculation."

Rao said his bid for the Assembly was in good shape until the final days before the June 3 primary, when he was subjected to attacks from Democrats, Republicans and independent groups.

"It's pretty hard to defend against those attacks at the last minute," Rao said. Specifically, one group of ads said Rao had tax liens against him over construction projects, when the liens were pre-liens that actually didn't come to pass but weren't formally lifted, either.

"That was just hard to take," Rao said of the claims attacking him.

Since June 3, Rao said his campaign has been in a wind-down mode in acknowledgement of his second-place standing.

If the numbers were to change in his favor, Rao said, he'd be ready to bring the campaign back to full status.

"It's democracy, and voters will choose," he said.

In Contra Costa County, Wilson got more votes than in any other county, and he has a lead of about 2,000 votes over Rao there. Two other Republican candidates are further behind.

The Republican winner will face Democrat and San Ramon Valley Unified School District board member Joan Buchanan in November.

EARLIER on PolitickerCA.com:

• Wilson appears to have won AD-15 Republican race