California primary results: Democrat Gavin Newsom advances in governor race
Democrat Gavin Newsom advances to November in governor race
California’s House, Senate and gubernatorial primaries on Tuesday are being dubbed a “jungle primary,” or a nonpartisan blanket primary as it’s more formally known. It puts all candidates together in one big primary regardless of what party they belong to. That means it’s possible that one party has no options on the ballot come November.
Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom will advance to the ballot in the gubernatorial race come November.
“Thanks to you, the halftime score is looking very promising,” Newsom said as he took the stage to accept his advancement, although adding it was “not a victory speech.”
Here are the top vote-getters in the race for governor, as of 11:24 p.m.:
Democrat Gavin Newsom: 32.3%
Republican John Cox: 29.6%
Republican Travis Allen: 12.7%
Democrat Antonio Villaraigosa: 10.5%
Democrat John Chiang: 7.4%
- Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein did take first place in her party’s California primary, according to the AP, advancing to the general election for a possible fifth full term.
- House Minority Leader and Democrat Nancy Pelosi will also advance to November, the AP projected.
- Both top members of the House Intelligence Committee, GOP Rep. Devin Nunes and Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, will also advance to November.
But the California races might not all be decided Tuesday night, or even Wednesday morning — in California, anyone can vote by mail, and most do. As long as the ballot is postmarked by Tuesday, the vote is valid. In some close contests, those votes could be deciding factors. Polls closed at 11 p.m. EDT.
“Random issue” leaves more than 100,000 voters off in L.A.
California’s primaries are arguably the most-watched of Tuesday night. But a snafu has already complicated the state’s complicated election night.
Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan told CBS Los Angeles voters whose names did not appear on the roster at their polling place would be given provisional ballots, after a printing issue affected the voter rolls of more than one in four precincts. A total of 118,522 names were omitted.
Congress
California is of particular importance to the Democrats in their quest to take back the House. In 2016, Hillary Clinton won seven of the districts held by House Republicans. The Democrats have their sights set on turning as many of these seats blue as possible. A number of Republicans in California aren’t returning to Congress after 2018, leaving their seats as possible pick-ups for Democrats.
President Trump tweeted his support of California Republicans House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy as well as Nunes. The AP projected after midnight that McCarthy will win the GOP nomination.
Christina Bellantoni, assistant managing editor for politics at the Los Angeles Times, told CBSN that in California, “You’ve seen the Democratic Congressional Committee actually spend to…prop up Republicans.”
One key race is in the 48th Congressional District, currently represented by Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher. As of midnight, he still had the most votes, followed by a close third between Democrat Hans Keirstead and Republican Scott Baugh.
“I was out talking to voters in Huntington Beach, which is Dana Rohrabacher’s 48th Congressional District,” Bellantoni said. “Many people didn’t even know who he was. Somebody told me he thought ‘she’ was doing a really good job in Congress.”
