Incumbent candidate, Rep. Aisha Wahab has sizable lead

East Bay where voters in the 14th congressional district are choosing between Melissa Hernandez and now incumbent representative Aisha Wahab. She won a special election against Hernandez to serve out the remainder of Congressman Eric Swalwell's term after he resigned amid sexual assault allegations. The early results right there on your screen. Aisha Wahab with 57% of the vote, a double-digit lead over Melissa Hernandez, who has 43% of the vote right now. All right, KTVU's Jenna Katsuyama live tonight in Hayward, where the Wahab campaign has been holding its watch party. Jenna? Welcome back. Yes, we are right here, and Aisha Wahab is just leaving at this moment, but you can see all of her volunteers who are still behind me really celebrating what has been a big lead that she took in this race. This has been a very dramatic race for this District 14 congressional seat, and it was a very emotional moment for her. We want to show you the moment when she came in to meet her volunteers, her supporters, and then what she had to say. That comes from the foster care system in itself is an achievement, as well as being an American of Afghan heritage. Very proud of that. And I also want to ensure that I'm not the first, the last, or the only, right? I think that so many people deserve to have an opportunity to live their American dream. And this has been a very hard fought race that has spanned four elections. This is the fourth time that the voters have been had to vote on this. And in one way, the city of Dublin played a key role here. That's because of redistricting. The Congressional District 14 area shifted since the special election to include more voters in Dublin. Melissa Hernandez, Wahab's competitor, has strong support from being the past mayor there and the lines The lines at the Dublin Civic Center today had more than 60 people at some points lined up, some people waiting more than one hour. We talked with voters who said that it was a very difficult decision. Melissa Hernandez earlier in the evening told us that she was very grateful for her supporters and this was a difficult race. It's felt great. I will tell you that there was a lot of confusion in the last special election because of the district re-changing and so in the redistricting. So a lot of, like you said earlier, a lot of Dublin was taken out. Now we have all of Dublin. But also in the fact that folks were saying, why am I getting the third ballot? Why? And it's summertime and folks are traveling and... Folks have other priorities on their mind because they want to go on vacation with their children. And Melissa Hernandez had the support of many current members of Congress, such as Zoe Lofgren, Sam Liccardo, and yet Wahab says that she was very proud of the campaign that she waged, that she felt was very positive in the face of what sometimes seemed like a lot of opposition and an uphill battle. Wahab says that she wants to represent all people. And I asked her about her short time in Washington. She won that special election. In the summer, in August, and then went to Congress for a short time, she said that it was an eye-opening experience for her. She feels like there is a lack of connectedness there in Congress, even among the California delegation. And one of the things she hopes to do is really bring a focus to policies, to the things she's fighting for, for ordinary people here in the district to try and connect people. And she says she feels that that is something that both Republicans and Democrats can get together. and agree upon, especially in this current climate that we're seeing tonight, where it appears that the returning Congress is going to have a much stronger scenario for Democrats to be able to get some of those policies done. Right if the numbers do hold up, it does appear that she'll be headed back to Washington, D.C. for another couple of years. Janet Katsuyama live tonight in Hayward with the very latest there. Janet, we appreciate it.