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Dublin City Councilman Eric Swalwell has unseated Pete Stark for the newly aligned 15th Congressional district, which now serves San Ramon south to Pleasanton.

As of early Wednesday morning, with all precincts reporting, Swalwell held a lead of 6,332 votes. Swalwell received 74,007 votes, 52.23 percent of the total vote to Stark's 67,675 votes, about 47.2 percent.

Stark made a brief stop at Pleasanton's United Democratic Campaign Headquarters on Stoneridge Drive around 5 p.m.

By 9 p.m., Stark had headed to his home in Fremont and was unavailable for comment.

Meanwhile, Swalwell's party at the Deputy Sheriffs' Association of Alameda County offices on Owens Drive was just getting warmed up, with hundreds gathering to watch the final results.

Swalwell, an Alameda County deputy district attorney, said his victory "reflects the hard work that we put in."

"We hit about 20,000 homes in the last 10 days," Swalwell said, describing a last ditch effort that included Pleasanton, Dublin and Castro Valley. ""We had over 100 volunteers just this weekend."

The two were battling over a redrawn 15th district, one of the new districts established in the statewide realignment of federal, regional and state voting districts based on the 2010 census.

Stark, 81, served for nearly four decades in his original 9th district.

The race took a number of turns that included criticism of Stark, a multimillionaire former banker, for allowing his minor children to collect social security.

Swalwell vowed to work to close what's been described as the "rich kid loophole."

Beyond that, in April, Stark accused Swalwell of taking "hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes" from a prominent real estate development family.

Swalwell threatened legal action if Stark did not apologize, which he did the next day.

Both Stark and Swalwell are Democrats, but were pitted against each other due to changes in California election law that allows for voters to choose between the top two contenders, regardless of party affiliation.

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