Last night, polls closed in California Senate Districts 1 and 33 in a Special Election to fill two vacancies in the California State Senate. No candidates received a majority vote, meaning both contests will now move to a top-two run-off election on June 4.
Voters in Senate District 1, spanning from the Oregon border to Alpine County appear to have favored sitting Republican Assembly Members Brian Dahle and Kevin Kiley with each receiving nearly 45,000 votes or about 29 percent. However, ballots mailed on election day or cast on a provisional basis could still affect the outcome as the lone Democratic candidate, Silke Pflueger, is about 4,000 votes behind the two front-runners.
In Senate District 33, located in Los Angeles County, voters elevated a clear favorite into the run-off election. Long Beach City Councilmember Lena Gonzalez bested a field of nine Democrats, earning nearly 31 percent of the vote. Finishing second was one of two Republicans, Jack Guerrero, with almost 15 percent of the vote. Gonzalez will be heavily favored to win the June run-off in this heavily Democratic district.
Senate District 1 and 33 were vacated following the November 2018 election, when State Senator Ted Gaines was elected to the State Board of Equalization and State Senator Ricardo Lara was selected State Insurance Commissioner.
For updates and detailed results, visit https://vote.sos.ca.gov/.