On the evening of Thursday, June 4, with about 60% of the ballots counted, the California Secretary of State’s election result portal (electionresults.sos.ca.gov) was reporting the following results from the June 2 primary election voting:
The likely contests that voters will see in November are:
Governor: Steve Hilton vs Xavier Becerra
US Congress: Jim Desmond vs Marni von Wilpert
State Assembly: Greg Wallis vs Leila Namvar
State Senate: Kelly Seyarto vs Tiffanie Tate
Among the 61 candidates for governor, Republican Steve Hilton and Democrat Xavier Becerra will likely appear on the November general election ballot. Hilton had so far received 27.2% of the votes, and Becerra 25.9%. The next two with the most votes were Democrat Tom Steyer with 20.1% and Republican Chad Bianco with 11.2%.
In Riverside County, Bianco received the most votes, 27.5%, Becerra 24.4%, Hilton 21.4%, and Steyer 15.6%.
The likely candidates for Lieutenant Governor were Democrat Fiona Ma with 19.2% and Republican Gloria Romero with 19.6%. These were also the top two candidates in this county.
In the race for US Congress District 48, Republican Jim Desmond –– one of only two Republicans on the ballot –– was at 41.3%. Marni von Wilpert led the field of nine Democrats, with 20%.
Ammar Campa-Najjar was the only other CD 48 candidate to pass 7%, with 9.7%. Brandon Riker, who held a campaign launch in Idyllwild and spoke here several times, had 6.6% district-wide, but 9.8% in Riverside County.
In the race for State Assembly District 47, incumbent Republican Greg Wallis had 50% of the vote, and Democrat Leila Namvar, with 29.5%, was his likely fall opponent. Democrat Jason Byors had 20.6%. In Riverside County the ranking was the same, but Wallis had 45.3%, Namvar 32.1%, and Byors 22.6%.
State Senate District 32 incumbent, Republican Kelly Seyarto, had 60.3%, and Democrat Tiffanie Tate 39.7%. County results were within half a percent of district polling.
The race for Insurance Commissioner may be between two Democrats; Jane Kim with 24.3% and Ben Allen with 19.4%. Republican Stacey Korsgaden had 17.2% and no other candidate passed 10%.
In Riverside, Korsgaden overtook Allen, with 18.8% versus 15.5%.
As of 6:00 p.m. Thursday, the Secretary of State’s website reported statewide that 5,617,892 ballots had been processed, and 3,606,128 remained to be counted. They also report that the State has 23,092,098 registered voters, making a turnout rate of just under 40%.
Widespread reporting has suggested that many Democratic voters, with many candidates to choose from, held their ballots until just before the election, and this may likely cause the final count to drifttowards that party. This is a consequence of the so called “jungle primary,” where all candidates appear on one ballot and the top two, regardless of party affiliation, go on to the general.
California typically takes weeks to count all their ballots. The state accepts mail in ballots post marked on Election Day until a week later, in this case June 9.
