California Assembly Speaker Pro Tem Kevin Mullin appears to be headed to Congress, holding a sizable lead in the initial results of Tuesday’s election to replace long-time Democratic stalwart Jackie Speier in her District 15 seat representing the Peninsula and parts of San Francisco.

Mullin had nearly 58 percent of the vote compared to about 42 percent for San Mateo County Supervisor David Canepa, according to initial unofficial results Tuesday night.

Mullin, 52, was elected to the Assembly in 2013 after serving on the South San Francisco City Council and is the son of former state Assemblymember Gene Mullin.

Speier, who is retiring after nearly 15 years in Congress, endorsed Mullin, who worked for her when she was in the state Senate.

Canepa, who served eight years on the Daly City City Council before joining the county Board of Supervisors six years ago, congratulated Mullins following the release of the initial results Tuesday.

“Running for Congress has been the most exciting year of my life and I’m so proud of my team. We fought hard and we never gave up. Congratulations to Kevin Mullin, we wish him the very best of luck and look forward to working with him on the most pressing issues our nation faces,” Canepa said.

Dan McMenamin is the managing editor at Bay City News, directing daily news coverage of the 12-county greater Bay Area. He has worked for BCN since 2008 and has been managing editor since 2014 after previously serving as BCN’s San Francisco bureau reporter. A UC Davis graduate, he came to BCN after working for a newspaper and nonprofit in the Davis area. He handles staffing, including coaching of our interns, day-to-day coverage decisions and management of the newswire.