Area voting favors Democrats

Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, captured more than 80 percent of the vote for his 5th Congressional District seat Tuesday.

Other Democrats rolled up impressive margins, but none in contested races matched Thompson’s 80.5 percent district-wide. While Thompson received more than 63,000 votes, his two opponents, James Hinton and Douglas Van Raam, both independents, split the balance, with Hinton, a retired professional poker player, edging out Van Raam, a stagehand, 11.1 percent to 8.4 percent. Thompson will therefore face Hinton in the November general election.

Democrat Jared Huffman ran up a 67.4 percent margin over Republican opponent Dale K. Mensing (23 percent) and Democrat Andy Caffrey (9.7 percent).

District-wide, Democrat Mike McGuire received 57.4 percent of the vote in the race for the 2nd District State Senate seat being vacated by Noreen Evans, who decided not to run for reelection. McGuire will face Republican Lawrence Wiesner in November. Wiesner picked up 27.1 percent of the vote, while Democrat Derek Knell got 11 percent and independent Harry Lehmann received 4.4 percent.

In a closely contested race for the 4th District Assembly seat, both Democrat Bill Dodd and Republican Charlie Schaupp received an identical 25.7 percent of the vote, and will face each other in the general election. Two Davis City Council members split the rest of the Democratic vote, with Dan Wolk taking 24.6 percent andJoe Krovoza getting 18.1 percent. Last place went to Dustin Call, a Davis Republican, who picked up 5.9 percent. District-wide, which includes parts of Colusa, Lake, Napa, Solano, Sonoma and Yolo counties, Schaupp finished one vote ahead of Dodd, 15,223 to 15,222. But Dodd is the early favorite in the heavily Democratic district, given that the three Democratic primary candidates took more than 68 percent of the total vote.

In the 10th Assembly District, incumbent Democrat Marc Levine got 49.3 percent to Republican Gregory Allen’s 20.5 percent. Three other Democratic challengers collectively polled less than Levine, with Diana Conti picking up 17.5 percent, Erin Carlstrom getting 7.6 percent and Veronica Jacobi (who threw her support to Conti) trailing at 5 percent.

District Attorney Jill Ravitch rolled over her opponent, Victoria Shanahan, receiving 64.2 percent of the vote.

Incumbent David Sundstrom likewise trumped Gary Wysocky in the race for county auditor-controller-treasurer-tax collector. Sundstrom received 61.7 percent to Wysocky’s 37.9 percent.

Superintendent of Schools Steven Herrington, Sheriff Steve Freitas and Clerk-Recorder-Assessor Bill Rousseau were unopposed in their respective races for re-election.

In statewide races, Gov. Jerry Brown (D) received 71.9 percent of the county vote (54.4 percent statewide) while none of his 14 opponents reached double-digits. Brown, who took all but Modoc County, will face Republican Neel Kashkari (19.1 percent statewide) in November.

Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom garnered 65.5 percent in the county (49.8 percent statewide) and will face Republican Ron Nehring (23.2 percent) in November.

The secretary of state’s race was close, with Alex Padilla (D) receiving 36.2 percent (30.1 percent statewide) to Pete Peterson’s (R) 19.8 percent (29.7 percent statewide). Padilla and Peterson were only separated by 12,633 votes and will meet in the run-off. Ironically, indicted state Sen. Leland Yee (D) managed to receive almost 290,000 votes statewide, which was good for third place.

In the controller’s race, while Betty Yee (D) won Sonoma County with 29.5 percent, she finished fourth, with 21.4 percent, statewide. Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin (R) was fourth in the county with only 9.4 percent, but was first statewide with 24.4 percent. She’ll face John Perez (D) in November, who got 21.7 percent.

Controller John Chiang (D), who was running for treasurer, got 63.7 percent of the county vote, but only 55 percent statewide. He’ll face Greg Conlon (R) in November, who got 38.5 percent.

Incumbent Attorney General Kamala Harris (D) will face Ronald Gold (R) in the general election. Harris won 67.8 percent in the county and 53 percent statewide. Gold’s 12.7 percent led the rest of the six-candidate pack chasing Harris.

Incumbent Insurance Commissioner David Jones (D) received 66.4 percent in the county (53.1 percent statewide) to Ted Gaines (R) 26.9 percent in the county (41.6 percent statewide) and Nathalie Hrizi’s 5.3 percent statewide.

In the race for the 2nd District seat on the state board of equalization, Fiona Ma (D) received 72.2 percent of the vote in the county (68.5 percent district-wide) to James Theis’ (R) 27.5 percent (31.5 percent in the district).

In statewide ballot measures, the Veterans Housing & Homeless Bond Act of 2014 and the Public Records-Open Meetings both passed with more than 60 percent of the vote.

Countywide, only 30.1 percent of the electorate cast ballots. This is down from the last two primaries.