Democrats Steve Glazer, Susan Bonilla battle for 7th District State Senate seat

CONCORD, Calif. (KGO) -- One of the most closely watched political races in the nation right now involves a Senate race in Contra Costa County.

Assm. Susan Bonilla, D-Concord is running against Steve Glazer. He wants to prevent BART union workers from going on strike. She is getting the labor support that Glazer lost.

Voter turnout is expected to be small Tuesday, but an East Bay senate race between two democrats has caught the attention of voters for all the wrong reasons.

The Internet and TV commercials produced by supporters of each candidate in the 7th District State Senate race have been downright nasty when characterizing the competition.

But now that's it's time for voters to make their choice, Glazer and Bonilla have have returned to some old fashioned grassroots campaigning.

Glazer spent his day going door to door in Orinda trying to persuade those who have yet to vote that he is not just the man who opposed BART strikes. "I think it's been a very ugly campaign and I'm disappointed about that. I encourage voters to throw all that away and recycle it. I have a webpage that has all my positions on issues," he said.

At the Bonilla campaign headquarters in Concord, volunteers worked the phones trying to appease weary voters and remind them of Bonilla's record, both as a county supervisor and at the State Assembly. "I just have my faith and trust in our voters that they're going to see through what is a negative, nasty campaign. They know me, they know my record, they know my work in the community and that they're going to make their decision based on that reality," Bonilla said.

As of Monday, about 75 percent of the mail-in ballots expected in the special election have already been received.

The election is on Tuesday, May 19, 2015.