Voters in a large swath of Alameda County have either sent in ballots or they were heading to polling places again Tuesday to vote in a runoff from June's special election to complete the remaining months in Eric Swalwell's current congressional term.

State Senator Aisha Wahab and BART Board President Melissa Hernandez are facing off on a ballot for the third time in two months today, thanks to the inconvenient timing of Congressman Eric Swalwell's resignation in April. Today's election is the runoff from the June 16th special election for the remainder of Swalwell's current term, in which no candidate received a majority.

Wahab and Hernandez also were on the June 2 primary ballot for the next term in Congress (2027-2029), and regardless of the outcome of today's election, both will again be on the November ballot for that full term — though today's election will serve as a strong predictor for how that one will turn out.

As we reported back in June, Wahab, the more progressive candidate, sailed to an easy victory in the primary with 21 points over Hernandez, and led Hernandez by 26 points in the special election two weeks later.

But the race has heated up and gotten ugly in the last month, as the Chronicle reports, in part thanks to attack ads against Wahab that have been funded by AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee), and which seem motivated more by the fact that she's Muslim, and not by any policy or cause that she's promoted.

Wahab, one of the first Afghan Americans elected to public office in the country, represents California's highly diverse 14th Congressional District, which includes Fremont and Hayward, the former being home to the Bay Area's only "Little Kabul." Wahab has said she considers Israel's actions in Gaza a genocide, but as the Chronicle notes, neither she nor Hernandez has spoken at all about Israel or Gaza in their campaigning.

As the Washington Examiner reports, AIPAC has spent $4.4 million in its effort to defeat or at least damage Wahab in this special election runoff, using its attacks not to focus on Israel, but on issues like public safety. PACs supporting Hernandez have spent over $5 million in total, as Politico reports, funding ads like this one that suggest Wahab is weak on issues like sex trafficking — she voted to lessen sentences for adults who have sex with 16- and 17-year-olds.

"They seem to have more money than God," Wahab said, speaking to Politico. "On every single credential, I am the most qualified. So what’s the elephant in the room? At the end of the day, all I can say is that it’s based on prejudice and racism."

Wahab has the endorsement of the California Democratic Party, and given her wide margins in June, she seems all but assured another double-digit victory in Tuesday's runoff, and likely another in November.

As Democratic consultant Jim Ross tells the Chronicle, if these attacks can get Hernandez within five percentage points of Wahab's lead, then she could still be viable in the November election.

But, that may not be the aim of AIPAC's spending. The Washington Examiner suggests that AIPAC may simply be sending a warning to other Democrats who continue running on platforms that continue to erode support for Israel.

As Ravi Mangla, a spokesperson for the progressive Working Families Party, tells Politico, "[AIPAC] is targeting Aisha to try to balance the scales and show that they can still be competitive in California elections." And, Mangla adds, regarding the broad support for candidates like Wahab, "This populist moment was inevitable. It is the result of decisions made by a billionaire class."

We should know by tomorrow or later this week how much of a dent all this spending made on Wahab's lead.

Previously: State Senator Aisha Wahab In Early Lead For Eric Swalwell’s Former Seat In 2027