Primary Election Summary
By: Dave Ackerman, AGC Legislative Advocate
2012-06-07
Voters who went to sleep Tuesday night biting their nails over the Proposition 29 tobacco tax initiative can keep biting today.
The proposed $1-per-pack cigarette tax was losing by a razor-thin margin, 50.8% to 49.2% after 100% of the state's precincts had fully or partially reported their results.
The margin represented about 63,000 votes out of more than 3.8 million cast. What was not immediately clear in yesterday's predawn hours was how many mail-in, dropped-off or contested ballots remained to be tallied.
By contrast, Proposition 28, which was supported by AGC, was a runaway winner, capturing support from more than 61% of California's voters to reduce the total number of years that a legislator can serve from 14 to 12 -- but allow all to be served in one house.
AGC -San Diego had reason to celebrate with their victory of Proposition A regarding PLAs passing by 58% and the pension reform initiative passing by 66%. A similar initiative regarding pension reform also passed by approximately 69% in San Jose.
In one of California's wildest, most expensive legislative slugfests, in the 50th Assembly District in Los Angeles County, all four candidates were separated by less than 2 percentage points with all precincts reporting. Democrats Betsy Butler had 25.9%of the vote, Richard Bloom, 25.6%, and Torie Osborn, 24.3%. Republican Bradly Torgan had 24.2%.
Tuesday night was a time for watching big money as labor unions, business interests and wealthy individuals sought to influence races statewide.
How successful were they?
Republican donor Charles T. Munger Jr., for instance, had put his money behind Republican Assemblyman Allan Mansoor's more moderate GOP challenger, Leslie Daigle, in the Irvine-based 74th Assembly District. Even so, Mansoor garnered 43%of the vote, easily advancing to the November runoff against Democrat Robert Rush.
Munger seemed to get more for his money in the Sacramento area 6th Assembly District when he backed Assemblywoman Beth Gaines, R-Rocklin, against Proposition 8 lawyer Andy Pugno. Gaines was the top vote-getter by a comfortable margin, capturing 37% of ballots cast. Democrat Regy Bronner narrowly led Republican Andy Pugno, 31.9% to 31.2%, for the right to square off against Gaines in this year's general election.
Through JOBSPAC, which AGC is a contributing member, the California Chamber of Commerce backed several moderate Democrats in open seats, reporting independent expenditures for Stockton City Councilwoman Susan Eggman in the Stockton-based 13th Assembly District. Eggman easily beat two other Democrats -- receiving 40% of votes cast -- and will face Republican Jeffrey Jafri in the fall.
JobsPAC also put its money behind Orange County Clerk-Recorder Tom Daly in the Santa Ana-based 69th Assembly District. He crushed three Democratic opponents, with 41% of the vote, for the right to run against Republican Jose "Joe" Moreno in November.
Labor unions, meanwhile, had backed one of Republican Assemblyman Tim Donnelly's GOP challengers, Big Bear Lake Mayor Bill Jahn, in the safe GOP 33rd Assembly District. Donnelly beat back the challenge easily, tallying nearly 52% of votes cast. Democrat John Coffey won the second spot for the right to compete in November.
How did "no-party-preference" candidates fare? Former Assemblyman Anthony Adams, who ditched his Republican Party allegiance before running in the 8th Congressional District, hardly registered a blip in Tuesday's balloting, receiving less than 4% of the vote to finish ninth in a 13-person field.
The AGC PAC supported over 50 candidates running for the State Senate and Assembly. Of those, only one candidate did not make it into the final two which was Tom Calderon in Assembly District 58 - although his nephew seems to have pulled out a hard fought race against Rudy Bermudez in Assembly District 57. Here is a rundown on the “most watched” State Senate and State Assembly races:
Key Races in the California State Senate
| SD-01 | Ted Gaines (R) - 48.2% | Julie Griffith-Flatter (D) - 30.0% |
| SD-05 | Cathleen Galgiani (D) - 41.3% | Cathleen Galgiani (D) - 41.3%
|
| SD-13 | Jerry Hill (D) - 51.3% | Sally Lieber (D) - 22.1% |
| SD-15 | Jim Beall (D) - 54.9% | Joe Coto (D) - 45.1% |
| SD-19 | Mike Stoker (R) - 45.3% | Hanna Beth Jackson (D) - 41.2% |
| SD-27 | Todd Zink (R) - 50.6% | Fran Pavley (D) - 49.4% |
| SD-31 | Jeff Miller (R) - 51.0% | Richard Roth (D) - 28.8% |
| SD-39 | Marty Block (D)- 46.2% | George Plescia (R) - 43.9% |
Key Races in the California State Assembly
| AD-01 | Brian Dahle (R) - 34.2% | Rick Boscetti (R) - 28.3% |
| AD-03 | Dan Logue (R) - 41.8% | Charles Rouse (D) - 32.8% |
| AD-05 | Rico Oller (R) - 33.4% | Frank Bigelow (R) - 28.9% |
| AD-06 | Beth Gaines (R) - 36.9% | Regy Bronner (D) - 31.9% |
| AD-08 | Ken Cooley (D) - 42.7%
| Peter Tateishi (R) - 22.3% |
| AD-10 | Michael Allen (D) - 30.3% | Marc Levine (D) - 24.2% |
| AD-11 | Mike Hudson (R) - 31.7% | Jim Frazier (D) - 28.2% |
| AD-13 | Susan Eggman (D) - 39.7% | Jeffrey Jafri (R) - 21.5% |
| AD-18 | Rob Bonta (D) - 37.0% | Abel Guillen (D) - 28.1% |
| AD-19 | Phil Ting (D) - 55.8% | Michael Breyer (D) - 22.4% |
| AD-20 | Bill Quirk (D) - 30.3% | Jennifer Ong (D) - 25.0% |
| AD-21 | Jack Mobley (R) - 44.8% | Adam Gray (D) - 32.3% |
| AD-28 | Paul Fong (D) - 53.7% | Chad Walsh (I) - 46.3% |
| AD-33 | Tim Donnelly (R) - 51.7% | John Coffey (D) - 29.3% |
| AD-39 | Raul Bocanegra (D) - 36.5% | Richard Alarcon (D) - 27.0% |
| AD-41 | Chris Holden (D) - 29.6% | Donna Lowe (R) - 23.2% |
| AD-46 | Adrin Nazarian (D) - 27.50% | Brian Johnson (D) - 20.3% |
| AD-49 | Matthew Lin (R) - 51.3% | Edwin Chau (D) - 35.6% |
| AD-50 | Betsy Butler (D) - 25.9% | Richard Bloom (D) - 25.6% |
| AD-57 | Noel Jaimes (R) - 43.4% | Noel Jaimes (R) - 43.4% |
| AD-58 | Patricia Kotze-Ramos (R) - 27.9% | Christina Garcia (D) - 26.5% |
| AD-61 | Jose Medina (D) - 44.2% | William Batey (R) - 35.0% |
| AD-66 | Al Muratsuchi (D) - 40.9% | Al Muratsuchi (D) - 40.9% |
| AD-67 | Phil Paule (R) - 28.0% | Melissa Melendez (R) - 23.3% |
| AD-69 | Tom Daly (D) - 40.9% | Jose Moreno (R) - 22.5% |
| AD-72 | Troy Edgar (R) - 28.5% | Travis Allen (R) - 19.9% |
| AD-74 | Alan Mansoor (R) - 43.1% | Bob Rush (D) - 33.4% |
| AD-77 | Brian Maienschein (R) - 47.5% | Ruben "R.J." Hernandez (D) - 24.5% |
This primary election marked California's first under a top-two primary system, allowing voters to cast ballots in legislative or congressional races for candidates of any party, with the two highest vote-getters advancing to a November runoff.
As a result of the “top two primary” here are the 26 same party matchups for the November election:
Congress
| CD-15 | (Stark v. Swalwell) | Democrats |
| CD-30 | (Berman . Sherman) | Democrats |
| CD-31 | (Miller v. Dutton) | Republicans |
| CD-35 | (Baca v. McLeod) | Democrats |
Assembly
| AD-01 | (Dahle v. Boscetti) | Republicans |
| AD-02 | (Chesbro v. Lynch) | Democrats |
| AD-05 | (Oller v. Bigelow) | Republicans |
| AD-10 | (Allen v. Levine) | Democrats |
| AD-18 | (Bonta v. Guillen) | Democrats |
| AD-19 | (Ting v. Breyer) | Democrats |
| AD-20 | (Quirk v. Ong) | Democrats |
| AD-23 | (Patterson v. Whalen) | Republicans |
| AD-28 | (Fong v. Walsh) | Independent |
| AD-39 | (Bocanegra v. Alarcon) | Democrats |
| AD-46 | (Nazarian v. Johnson) | Democrats |
| AD-47 | (Baca, Jr. v. Brown) | Democrats |
| AD-50 | (Butler v. Bloom) | Democrats |
| AD-51 | (Gomez v. Lopez) | Democrats |
| AD-59 | (Sawyer v. Robinson) | Democrats |
| AD-62 | (Bradford v. Evans) | Democrats |
| AD-67 | (Paule v. Melendez) | Republicans |
| AD-72 | (Edgar v. Allen) | Republicans |
| AD-76 | (Chavez v. Hodges) | Democrats |
| AD-79 | (Weber v. England) | Democrats |
Senate
| SD-13 | (Hill v. Lieber) | Democrats |
| SD-15 | (Beall v. Coto) | Democrats |
There still may be some changes since a few of races are still too close to call but the political strategists are already gearing up for the November election. The November election turnout is expected to be much higher than the 27 to 30 turnout for the primary and there will be more emphasis placed on the “Decline to State” and “Independent” voters to participate which will be very interesting to see if it makes a difference.