A total of 551 candidates are running in the June 8 Primary Election for congress or the state legislature.
Two hundred thirteen (51 incumbents) are running in one of the 53
congressional districts; 275 (51 incumbents) are running in one of the
80 assembly districts; and 63 (10 incumbents) are running in one of the
20 even-numbered state senate districts up for election this year.
Let me first congratulate Central Valley Republican Congressmen Devin Nunes (CD21) and Kevin McCarthy (CD22), along with Los Angeles Democratic Assembly Members John Pérez – Speaker of the Assembly – and Mike Davis on their re-election this year. The four are unopposed in both the June Primary and November General Election.
Congress and the state legislature may have a single-digit approval rating among California voters, but the vast majority of incumbents seeking re-election are running unopposed in the June 8 Primary and – due to gerrymandering – will not face any serious challenge in November.
Nine Democrats – George Miller, Pete Stark, Sam Farr, Jim Costa, Howard
Berman, Xavier Becerra, Lucille Roybal-Allard, Jane Harman and Laura
Richards – have drawn Primary opposition.
All nine represent very safe Democratic seats – meaning an incumbent
loss would not change the partisan makeup of the CA House delegation –
and most of the challengers will be poorly funded and not likely be
able to mount any more than a token effort.
Among the challenges, the most interesting is in CD36, a western Los Angeles County coastal district represented by Jane Harman. Marcy Winograd,
president of Progressive Democrats of America (Los Angeles chapter) and
a co-founder of L.A. Jews for Peace, is challenging Harman from the
left. Winograd ran against Harman in the 2004 Primary under the slogan
"Winograd vs. Harman, Bush & Cheney." Harman beat back the
challenge, winning 62.5% – 37.5%. As in 2004, Winograd is touting a
long list of well-known liberal activists, including Daniel Ellsberg,
Ed Asner, Ron Kovic, Ed Begley, Jr., and former Asm. Jackie Goldberg,
Laura Richardson (CD37-Long Beach), who has had
lots of negative publicity since her election to congress in a 2007
special election, has drawn three opponents in the Primary, the most
interesting being Terrance Ponchak, a political moderate and an attorney (sole practitioner) from Long Beach.
Six Republicans – Wally Herger, Tom McClintock, David Dreier, Jerry
Lewis, Gary Miller, Ken Calvert and Duncan Hunter – have drawn Primary
opposition.
None are expected to receive a serious challenge, though Democrats will be looking at the challenge against Ken Calvert
(CD44-Riverside County) to try to gage any weakness Calvert may have
among his Republican base. Calvert barely won re-election last year
against his underfunded Democratic opponent, Bill Hedrick, and Hedrick is running again this year.
No incumbent state senator up for re-election is being challenged in the June Primary.
Two Democratic members of the Assembly are being challenged: Jarred Huffman (AD6-San Rafael) and Wilmer Amina Carter (AD62-Rialto). The Huffman challenge is not serious, but Carter will face Gilbert Navarro,
65, a Latino – which is the assembly district’s largest voting block –
and a San Bernardino County school board member. Navarro ran against
Carter in the 2008 Primary, and though he neither raised nor spent any
significant amount of money – while Carter reported spending just under
$400,000 – he received 40% of the vote.
On the Republican side, three incumbents are being challenged: Jim
Nielson (AD2-Tehema County), Ted Gaines (AD4-Placer County), and Brian
Nestande (AD64-Palm Desert).
All three are being challenged from the right, Nielson and Gains
representing safe Republican districts. Democrats will keep an eye on
Nestande’s Primary challenger, Jeffrey Tahr,
a 34 year-old Riverside attorney and Tea Party activist. Nestande was
elected unopposed in 2008 in a district narrowly won by Barack Obama,
50% – 48%.
My next post: 2010 Primary Election Overview – Part Two – will take a look at the two congressional, 10 state senate and 29 assembly districts – total of 41 – that are OPEN SEATS
in June because the incumbent is not seeking re-election due of term
limits, running for another office, or retiring. Because of
gerrymandering, winning the Primary for the vast majority of candidates is tantamount to winning the seat in November.
But, not all the seats are safe so I will
also make my early predictions as to where the hot races for congress,
state senate and assembly might be waged in the November General
Election.