Dr. Raul Ruiz appears to have defeated six term incumbent Mary Bono Mack to become the Hill's new congressional representative. With some ballots still to be counted, Ruiz holds a narrow lead, approximately 5,000 votes, and appears poised to become the representative of the new 36th Congressional district, which also now has a very slight Democratic registration edge.
Approximately 180,000 provisional, damaged and some vote by mail ballots remain to be counted county-wide.
In other key races, Proposition 30, the education funding measure championed by Governor Jerry Brown, squeaked by to a narrow victory after trailing through much of the night. Also winning were Proposition 35, human trafficking, 36, the revision in the three strikes law, 39, closing the multistate business tax loophole and Proposition 40, passage of which preserves the present Citizens' Redistricting Committee.
Of those going down to defeat, three of the most prominent were Prop. 32, prohibiting political contributions by payroll deductions, Prop. 34 abolishment of the death penalty and Prop. 37 genetically engineered foods labeling.
A local measure that passed with strong support was Measure U, the Hemet Unified School District measure to refinance bonds to permit school infrastructure improvements to go forward.
In State Assembly 71 district, the new district that includes the Hill and stretches to the Mexican border, Republican Brian W. Jones handily defeated Democrat Patrick J. Hurley. Both are San Diego county residents.
In a race in which some might be interested, given his previous service on the Riverside County Board of Supervisors, Republican John Tavaglione appears to have lost to Democratic newcomer and teacher Mark Takano.
We will update results as more become available.
