Despite having a massive financial advantage and the backing of powerful Democratic Party and union allies, Santa Rosa Assemblyman Michael Allen lost his bid for another term to a relative political unknown.

Even as his opponent prepares to be sworn into office Monday, Michael Allen reiterated that he won’t concede the race for the 10th Assembly District seat until every last vote is counted. That could happen by Friday, when an estimated 15,000 provisional and absentee ballots in Sonoma County finally are tallied and the results of the Nov. 7 election are certified, according to county elections chief Janice Atkinson.
Odds are the outstanding ballots won’t alter the outcome of the race. At last count, San Rafael City Councilman Marc Levine held a slim but statistically significant lead over Allen of 3,468 votes.

Two weeks after the election, as many as 41,700 mail-in and provisional ballots remain uncounted in Sonoma County, about 23 percent of the total cast by voters.

In his bid to unseat incumbent Democratic Assemblyman Mike Allen, San Rafael City Councilman Marc Levine, also a Democrat, has strengthened his lead. But Allen is not conceding the race, despite Levine’s declaration of victory and the consistent lead he’s held since Election Day.

If you want to know why political insiders fought new election reforms in California, you could ask Assemblyman Michael Allen. Or congressmen Pete Stark and Howard Berman. Under the election rules that existed before this year, all three incumbents would be gathering with friends this weekend to celebrate victories in Tuesday’s elections. Instead, Allen, the former Santa Rosan, appears to be on his way to losing his North Bay Assembly seat, and Stark and Berman have already lost their congressional seats.

San Rafael City Councilman Marc Levine declared victory Wednesday in his upset bid for the new North Bay Assembly seat, but Assemblyman Michael Allen would not concede the bitter battle that pitted two Democrats against each other. With tens of thousands of uncounted ballots in Sonoma and Marin counties, the final tally may not be decided for weeks. But Levine expressed confidence Wednesday that his narrow 1,663-vote lead over Allen would hold up.

Marc Levine’s campaign is crying foul over a mailer that portrays the state Assembly candidate who once campaigned for President Barack Obama as a supporter of Mitt Romney.

The mailer, which was sent out over the weekend, was paid for by the California Democratic Party, which is supporting Assemblyman Michael Allen.

Both Allen and Levine, a San Rafael city councilman, are running as Democrats in a newly-created Assembly seat that includes southern Sonoma County and all of Marin County.

The race in a newly created state Assembly district that ecompasses part of Sonoma County and all of Marin County is starting to heat up in one of the few contests statewide to feature two Democrats running against each other. Assemblyman Michael Allen and his challenger, Marc Levine, earned the right to compete for the 10th Assembly District under California’s new top-two primary system. The race has gained attention in part because it is one of about two dozen in the state pitting members of the same party against one another in the general election on Nov. 6.

A seven-candidate primary behind them, Democrats Michael Allen and Marc Levine now shift their focus to each other for what promises to be an expensive and bruising intra-party runoff in November for the 10th Assembly seat. Tuesday’s top-two primary set up the showdown between Democratic candidates with Allen finishing atop the field with 30 percent of the vote and Levine second with 24 percent.

Michael Allen and Marc Levine will compete in an all-Democrat runoff for the 10th Assembly seat in November. The pair were the leaders throughout the Tuesday night ballot count in the race for the newly created district representing Marin County and parts of Sonoma County. Of seven candidates Allen received 30.3 percent followed by Levine with 24.2 percent.