Updates: Here are early California election results in state and local races

Hannah Wiley, Michael McGough
·7 min read

The Super Tuesday primary polls closed at 8 p.m. and results continued to come in overnight.

Here are the latest updates on major races in California as of Wednesday morning.

Bernie takes California

Fourteen states voted Tuesday providing almost 2,000 delegates to candidates. California’s final results won’t be available until all vote-by-mail ballots are counted, which could take several weeks.

The Associated Press declared Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders victorious in California shortly after the polls closed at 8 p.m. Sanders had 32.8 percent of the vote as of 5:20 a.m., former Vice President Joe Biden had 24 percent, Mike Bloomberg had 15 percent and Sen. Elizabeth Warren had 12.2 percent.

Sanders also grabbed Vermont, Colorado and Utah.

Biden secured Alabama, North Carolina, Virginia, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Texas and Arkansas. He was projected to claim Maine.

California affords the largest Super Tuesday haul, with 415 delegates. Democratic candidates have to secure at least 15 percent of the statewide or congressional district support to be eligible for a pledged delegate. Here’s a look at how they’ll be divvied up.

Sacramento mayor, city council

Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg was easily re-elected to another term, with Steinberg earning more than 73 percent of the first 42,000 votes counted.

There are two close Sacramento City Council races.

In District 4, the seat representing downtown, midtown and Land Park, incumbent Councilman Steve Hansen has a tough race against housing advocate Katie Valenzuela. With just under 7,500 votes counted as of early Wednesday, Valenzuela held a lead of 54 percent to 46 percent over Hansen.

Results were narrower Tuesday night, but Hansen expressed optimism, and said he expected another 20,000 ballots to be counted from the district’s 39,000 registered voters. It could take weeks for the result to be determined, which is how long it took in 2012 when Hansen was first elected, he said.

In District 8, Meadowview, Sacramento City School Board of Education member Mai Vang and Pastor Les Simmons had the most resources in their campaigns to succeed Councilman Larry Carr. As of a 2 a.m. update, Vang led Simmons 47 to 31 percent, with the race going to a run-off if no candidate reaches more than 50 percent of the vote.

Sacramento voters rejected a youth-driven initiative, Measure G, that would have required the city to set aside a certain amount of money each year for youth programs.

Sacramento, Yolo, Placer and El Dorado are each electing members to the boards of supervisors. Updates are coming in here.

As of 8:15 p.m., Gregg Fishman and Rich Desmond led the pack to fill the Sacramento County Board of Supervisor District 3 seat, while incumbent Sue Frost was in the lead to hold onto her District 4 seat.

Ballot measures

The $15 billion school bond initiative called Proposition 13 had earned only about 44 percent of the vote as of 6 a.m. Wednesday.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has raised over $10 million for the initiative. If it passes, the money would fund school renovations and repairs on old buildings, with $9 billion allocated for preschool through high school and $2 billion each for the University of California, California State University and community colleges.

Filling four open Congressional seats

Four California congressional seats are open because of retirements and resignations and several more are expected to be contested in November.

  • Inland Empire (CA 8) — Nine candidates are competing to fill Rep. Paul Cook’s seat. The Yucca Valley Republican is retiring to run for a seat on the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors. Republican Assemblyman Jay Obernolte of Big Bear Lake was in the lead with 35 percent of the vote over Democrat Christine Bubser’s 27 percent and Republican Tim Donnelly’s 22 percent as of 6 a.m.

  • Los Angeles (CA 25) — Former Democratic Rep. Katie Hill resigned from her seat in October amid accusations of sexually inappropriate behavior, leaving the spot open. Democrat Christy Smith was in the lead with 30 percent of the vote, with Republican Mike Garcia following at 27 percent, by 6 a.m.

  • Replacing a Republican (CA 50) — Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter resigned early this year after he pleaded guilty to a felony campaign finance crime. In early returns, Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar was in the lead with 34 percent of the vote. Former GOP Congressman Darrell Issa and Republican activist Carl DeMaio have about 25 and 21 percent, respectively.

  • A stacked Democratic field (CA 53) — Fifteen candidates are competing for retiring Democratic Rep. Susan Davis’s post. Democrat Sara Jacobs was leading the pack with 29 percent. Fellow Dem Georgette Gomez was in second as of 6 a.m. near 19 percent.

The Legislature

Democrats control more than two-thirds of seats at the state Capitol. Several races are contests between moderate and progressive Democrats.

  • A Central Valley showdown (SD 5) — Assemblywoman Susan Eggman, D-Stockton, had a full roster of challengers in the primary, including a well-funded rival from within her party in Modesto City Councilman Mani Grewal. GOP candidate Jim Ridenour, a former Modesto mayor, and Eggman were neck-and-neck by 6 a.m., Eggman at 30.1 percent and Ridenour at 30 percent.

  • East Bay Battleground (SD 7) — Incumbent Democrat Steve Glazer won the seat handily with more than 48 percent of the vote, with voters from all precincts included. Glazer, backed by committees that support moderates, headed into Tuesday night with a financial leg up over labor-favored Marisol Rubio.

  • North State Race (AD 1) —Assemblywoman Megan Dahle, a Republican from Bieber, just won her special election in 2019 to fill her husband’s old seat after he was elected to the state Senate. She took 55 percent of the vote with all precincts reporting as of Wednesday morning., while Democrat Elizabeth Betancourt had just under 36 percent.

  • Purple District Drama (AD 36) — Democrats Johnathon Ervin and former Assemblyman Steve Fox are running against incumbent Republican Assemblyman Tom Lackey, who seemed to be in safe territory with close to 60 percent of the vote as of 6 a.m. Fox, with 15 percent of the vote, had the lead among Lackey’s challengers.

  • Former Republican leader defends his seat as an independent (AD 42) — Assemblyman Chad Mayes left the Republican party late last year to run as a No Party Preference candidate. Republican Andrew Kotyuk is challenging the incumbent. Mayes had 37 percent of the vote and Kotyuk had 34 percent around 6 a.m.

  • Political family dynasties (AD 57) —GOP candidate Jessica Martinez remains ahead of two name-recognition Democrats with 31 percent of the vote in the race to fill an open Dem seat. With all precincts reporting, Lisa Calderon had 19 percent and Sylvia Rubio had 17 percent. The contest saw millions of dollars in spending on behalf of Calderon, supported by labor groups, who is running to fill the seat of her stepson Ian Calderon, and Rubio, who has two sisters in the Legislature. Money from oil groups also funneled into Rubio’s campaign.

  • A Republican battle (AD 72) — Republican Assemblyman Tyler Diep of Westminster lost some party support when he voted last year for Assembly Bill 5, a major labor law that gives employment benefits to more workers. Former Republican state Sen. Janet Nguyen is running to replace him, and has 35 percent of the vote with all precincts reporting to Diep’s 27 percent.

Sacramento-region school bonds

A pair of local school construction bonds also are on Sacramento ballots.

Measure E would pay for upgrades in the Los Rios Community College District. Five counties are voting on the proposal. It’s very close as of Wednesday morning, with 50.7 percent in favor and 49.3 percent opposed as of 6 a.m., with nearly 150,000 votes counted.

Measure H would fund renovations in the Sacramento City Unified School District. Yes on Measure H had 59 percent of the first 34,000 votes tallied as of Wednesday morning.