The choices Californians will have for statewide and federal offices were narrowed down Tuesday night after voters headed to the polls to determine the general election candidates that will appear on the November ballot.
The most expected outcome that came to fruition Tuesday night was that Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom would lead the pack of 27 candidates vying to replace Governor Jerry Brown, and he did in garnering over 33 percent of the votes tallied through Wednesday.
Newsom, who was endorsed by Mayor Robert Garcia earlier this year, will advance to the November ballot where he will face off with Republican businessman John Cox who placed second with 26.2 percent of the vote.
The race for California’s United States Senate seat appears to have been narrowed down to long-time incumbent Dianne Feinstein and fellow Democrat Kevin De Leon. De Leon, who recently served as the California State Senate pro tempore, took in about 11 percent of the vote and sits 3 percentage points ahead of the next closest challenger.
The 86-year-old Feinstein has served in the US Senate since the early 90s and was a big favorite heading into Tuesday night’s election, and likely will remain a favorite going into November. She took in 43.8 percent of the vote and will now likely face a challenger in De Leon who is running to her left politically but has failed to keep pace with the incumbent in terms of fundraising.
Long Beach Congressman Alan Lowenthal, who is seeking a fourth term as a member of the United States House of Representatives, comfortably made it to the November ballot as well, taking home nearly 60 percent of the vote. He’ll be challenged by Republican John Brisco, who won 22 percent of the vote, some 25,000 votes less than Lowenthal.
Current Long Beach State Senator Ricardo Lara placed second in his bid to become the next State Insurance Commissioner, a position he announced he was running for after his unveiling of a single-payer healthcare bill. Lara placed second in the statewide vote to Steve Poizner, who has previously served as the state’s insurance commissioner .
Poizner, who opposes universal healthcare, won 41.3 percent of the vote to Lara’s 40.6 percent. The two will face off in the November general election to determine the state’s next insurance commissioner. A win by Lara would create a vacancy in the state’s 33rd District which could trigger a special election and possibly more shuffling at the local level if Long Beach officials move to fill that void.
Tuesday also decided a number of statewide ballot measures with four of the five being given a thumbs up from voters. A bond measure to help preserve natural resources and fortify the state against climate change, restrictions to ensure that revenue from transportation taxes are spent on transportation projects, when ballot measures become effective and a movement to exclude rainwater capturing installations from being counted toward property taxes were all approved by voters.
The lone measure that was voted down would have required a supermajority to approve spending of any revenue collected from the recently extended cap-and-trade program signed into law by the governor earlier this year.
Requiring a supermajority, something the Democrats lost Tuesday night with the recall of one state senator, could have led to gridlock in approving spending as it would require 3/4 support in both state houses. In being voted down the spending of revenue will continue to be approved with a simple majority vote in both houses.