California primary results: Gavin Newsom, John Cox advance
Democrat Gavin Newsom and Republican John Cox advance to November
California’s House, Senate and gubernatorial primaries on Tuesday were dubbed a “jungle primary,” or a nonpartisan blanket primary as it’s more formally known. It put all candidates together in one big primary regardless of what party they belong to.
Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and businessman Republican John Cox will advance to the ballot in the gubernatorial race come November, CBS News projects.
“Thanks to you, the halftime score is looking very promising,” Newsom said as he took the stage, adding it was “not a victory speech.”
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra will face a retired Republican judge in his bid to keep the job he was appointed to last year, The Associated Press projected.
The Democrat had about 45 percent of votes Tuesday and retired former Judge Steven Bailey had about 26 percent, with nearly 3 million votes counted in the four-way race. GOP attorney Eric Early and Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, a Democrat, trailed behind.
Becerra, a longtime congressman, was appointed last year to replace Kamala Harris when she was elected to the U.S. Senate.
- Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein took first place in her party’s California primary, advancing to the general election for a possible fifth full term, but her opponent wasn’t clear as of the early morning
- House Minority Leader and Democrat Nancy Pelosi will also advance to November, the AP projects.
- Both top members of the House Intelligence Committee, GOP Rep. Devin Nunes and Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, will also advance to November.
But the results of several California races appeared up in the air as of early 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.
In all those House races that were being watched for a potential shutout of Democratic or GOP candidates, there wasn’t certainty. As of early morning, those seats were still very potentially shaping up as D-R races for the fall, but as expected, many votes are left to count.
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.
In California’s 39th District, home to retiring GOP Rep. Ed Royce, Republican Young Kim was leading the pack, followed by Gil Cisneros, a Democrat.
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. The Associated Press announced after 2 a.m. that he will advance to November.
“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.”
State politics
There were significant state-level elections, too. Nearly two-thirds of voters case their ballots to recall Democratic state senator Josh Newman, after he voted to raise a gas tax last year. Former Assemblywoman Ling Ling Chang, a Republican, will take his place.
The loss of Newman cost Democrats their super-majority in the state Senate.
The AP said voters opted to recall Santa Clara Judge Aaaron Persky from office after he sentenced Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner to a relatively short sentence in jail instead of prison. Turner was convicted of sexual assault.
