EAST PALO ALTO >> Antonio De Je- sus Lopez stood outside St. Francis of Assisi church on Bay Road until the polls closed on Election Day, hoping he could get the last few votes to eke out a win for one of three open council seats.

Dressed in jeans and a Guayabera shirt, Lopez did what he had been doing for the past several months: passing out leaflets, pamphlets, and most importantly talking to people to make sure they knew his name. He may not have done this before, but as a native East Palo Altan, he knew people there vote late.

"You would've seen me electioneering at the very last minute to those who came to the polls to vote late," Lopez said. "There was lots going on that day. A soccer club was having practice, people were going to church. I was bombarding people with 'vote for me' and 'here's your polling location' for those last few votes. Everything counts." On Election Night it appeared the votes just weren't there for the 26-year-old Stanford Ph.D. candidate and writer to win a seat on the East Palo Alto City Council. After running a campaign on progressive policies, he was ready to accept defeat against his closest opponent, Webster Lincoln, a community leader.

But as happened with several other young progressives and self-described socialists who ran against incumbents and heavily financed opponents across the Bay Area, Lopez won with late votes reported after Election Day.

"Don't let anyone tell you a vote doesn't matter," Lopez said. "That's a frickin' lie." All across the Bay, socialist and progressive young people like Lopez led insurgent campaigns for local elected positions and won, including several against sitting council members and established community leaders that led to upsets....