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At the June 5 Statewide Primary Election, California voters approved a $4 billion parks bond. The Democratic Caucus restored its supermajority representation in the State Assembly due to two run-off special elections. However, the majority party lost a seat in a State Senate recall election, therefore eliminating its opportunity to achieve supermajority status in both houses before the close of the 2018 Legislative Session.

In addition to the parks bond, Proposition 68, voters weighed in on four other statewide ballot measures and chose the “top two” candidates for Statewide Constitutional offices as well as 100 of the 120 State Legislative Districts. At the November 6 General Election, voters will finalize their selections for these elected offices and determine the fate of dozens more statewide propositions.

California’s top two primary system, along with combining three special elections and a recall election with the June 5 statewide election, made for an interesting night in several State Legislative races. In Assembly District 76, a San Diego County seat currently held by Assembly Member Rocky Chávez, the Republican Caucus will be without a candidate come the November election. Two Democratic candidates, Tasha Boerner Hovarth and Elizabeth Warren each received a little over 25 percent of the vote, beating out the highest Republican vote-getter, Phillip Graham.

Perhaps most intriguing of all the Legislative elections, in Senate District 32 in Los Angeles County, different candidates qualified for the special election runoff on August 7 than those who qualified for the general election contest November 6. Republican Rita Topalian made the top two in both races, while Democrat Vanessa Delgado received the second most votes for the special election and Democrat Bob Archuleta earned the second most votes for the regular election. Because Democrats received about 65 percent of all votes cast in the district, the winner of the August Special Election will likely not be on the ballot as the incumbent just three months later.

A final note of interest, after taking an unpaid leave of absence in the wake of sexual harassment allegations, Democratic Assembly Member Cristina Garcia received the most votes in Assembly District 58 in Los Angeles County and will face Republican Mike Simpfenderfer in the general election. Assembly Member Garcia fought off a well-funded campaign by fellow Democratic candidate Ivan Altamirano who finished a distant sixth.

Legislative Supermajority Lost for 2018

A two-thirds supermajority vote in the State Legislature is necessary to place Constitutional amendments on the ballot for voter approval, as well as to approve tax increases. By regaining Assembly Districts 39 and 45 in Los Angeles County, the Democratic Caucus now has a one-vote supermajority cushion in the State Assembly with 55 of 80 seats. In the State Senate, the majority party lost a vote, moving down to 25 of 40 seats with the recall of Democratic State Senator Josh Newman in Senate District 29 in Orange County.

Had Senator Newman withstood the recall effort, the Democratic Caucus was expected to regain its 27-vote supermajority status in the State Senate at the upcoming August 7 run-off special election for Senate District 32. That election is scheduled to occur just before the 2018 Legislative Session concludes on August 31, which would have afforded the victor the opportunity to cast potentially decisive end-of-session votes in the upper house.

At the start of 2018, the Democratic Caucus enjoyed a two-thirds supermajority in both houses of the State Legislature, with 55 seats in the State Assembly and the requisite 27 seats in the State Senate. Then, in the spring, three Democratic Assembly Members and one Democratic State Senator resigned leaving the caucus short of supermajority status by two seats in the Assembly and one in the State Senate.  

Three legislators’ resignations resulted from sexual harassment allegations and the fourth occurred due to health concerns.

For complete results of the June 5, 2018 Statewide Primary Election, visit vote.sos.ca.gov and your local county registrar of voters website.