State Senate Jungle Primaries in California
This took a lot of time to pan over. A lot. The June 7th, 2022, ballot has way too many people.
State Senate ~ District 4
This district, anchored in the Central Valley, Sierra Nevada Mountains, and Death Valley, has no incumbent and is rated as Safe Republican by CNAnalysis, which is probably the leading ranker for specific state legislative seats.
Interestingly enough, former US Representative George Radanovich is making a bid for this race. A Republican that faced future 2018–2020 Congressman T.J. Cox in an election, he would retire from Congress in 2011, but he wants to make a political return at the age of 66 it appears. Grabbing endorsements from House of Representatives GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy, former Congressman Jeff Denham, the Modesto Bee, and plenty of other officials, I’d say he’s making a relatively successful bid so far. He claims to have left Congress to help raise his son, who is now grown, and thus, he feels as if he can return to politics.
Another Republican candidate, Stanislaus Union School Board trustee Jeff McKay, also shares some significant backing, with McKay being backed by a variety of local officials and Assemblyman Heath Flora.
Additionally, Democrat Tim Robertson, who is the director of the North Valley Labor Federation is running as well, being backed by Congressman Josh Harder and Treasurer Fiona Ma.
It’d be very interesting if Radanovich actually gets first or second place, but it for sure seems like he may.
State Senate ~ District 8
This Sacramento seat was freed up upon the ineligibility of incumbent Richard Pan to run again due to term limits.
As a result, two major candidates have started bids: Sacramento City Councilor Angelique Ashby and former Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones.
Jones, a close friend of former State Controller John Chiang (they attended High School together and served in the student body government together), previously served as a member of the Sacramento City Council before being elected to State Assembly, and then from there, Insurance Commissioner.
In 2018, he would run against Xavier Becerra for Attorney General, but ended up in third place. Jones, who has a longstanding progressive record, has been backed by several public officials, including Treasurer Fiona Ma, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, Congressional Representatives Teresa Leger Fernandez (of New Mexico), Katie Porter, Jared Huffman, and Ted Lieu. Additionally, he has the backing of the California Democratic Party.
Meanwhile, the Vice Mayor of Sacramento, Angelique Ashby, has still made quite a strong bid against him. Ashby is mostly running on her accomplishments in her office, such as helping prop up legislation keeping the Sacramento Kings in Sacramento, building libraries, and ending the sale of flavored tobacco and vape products. She has been endorsed by the previously mentioned Richard Pan and several elected officials.
I would say that Dave Jones is most likely the frontrunner, but Ashby as a local figure may grab some significant votes in her bid against him.
State Senate ~ District 10
This race is something else.
State Senator Bob Wieckowski, which you may know due to him briefly running for Representative Eric Swalwell’s seat due to Swalwell running for President, is term-limited and thus, ineligible to run for re-election.
This left quite a large list of candidates wanting to run for this East San Francisco-Bay anchored district, with several major Democratic candidates running.
One is Jim Canova, a member of the Santa Clara Unified School Board. Canova has a very funny website, where he has tons of quotes from significant officials, such as Representative Ro Khanna, the previously mentioned Bob Wieckowski, and more, where he has quotes of support, but then right below the quote says “I am grateful for this quote from [insert name] in support of my work. This does not however represent an endorsement”, ouch. Canova is seemingly running on expanding housing and ending the housing crisis, but he hasn’t garnered significant media attention in this race.
Now are the two frontrunners: Fremont Mayor Lily Mei and Hayward City Councilor Aisha Wahab.
Now, I’ll preface Mei with this: Mei has been accused of homophobia, and before 2020, was an Independent. When she served on the Fremont School Board, she voted against declaring May the 22nd as Harvey Milk Day, was accused of being anti-LGBTQ+ after voting against the inclusion of books written by LGBTQ+ authors, and thus, has been deemed anti-LGBTQ+ by the Democratic Party of Alameda County. Mei is running on a rather lackluster platform, but despite all of this, has been endorsed by Congressman Ro Khanna and multiple mayors, such as Hayward Mayor Barbara Halliday, San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, Pleasanton Mayor Karla Brown, and more. She was also weirdly enough backed by the Mayors of Columbia, South Carolina, and Huntington, West Virginia. Additionally, she is backed by Congressional candidate David Canepa.
Aisha Wahab, who ran for Congress after Swalwell briefly ran for President, is her main opponent. Wahab, who is running on a progressive platform consisting of policies such as the Green New Deal, has been backed by the California Democratic Party, Treasurer Fiona Ma, Attorney General Rob Bonta, California State Superintendent Tony Thurmond, and incumbent State Senator Bob Wieckowski. She appears to have the more mainstream backing against Mei, whilst Mei has more local endorsements and support. She additionally has tons of organizations backing her.
I’d say that this race is probably going to be one of the closest, and if elected, I don’t doubt we see Wahab make a major bid in the future.
State Senate ~ District 16
So you saw the previous race and probably said: “there probably can’t be more Conservative Democrats running, right?”, well, you’d be wrong, very wrong.
This Central Valley seat has no incumbent, and thus, three major Democrats have stepped up to the plate to run.
Melissa Hurtado, an incumbent State Senator, decided to run in this district. Hurtado has a slightly more conservative ideology, with her being a member of the Problem Solvers Caucus, which is exactly like the federal version of that. Hurtado has been endorsed by Congressman Jim Costa, as well as Congressional candidate Adam Gray, who has been endorsed by the Blue Dog Caucus.
However, there is somehow another, even more Conservative Democrat running. Meet Nicole Parra, a former member of the Assembly. Parra, after being ineligible to run for Assembly, decided to endorse her former Republican opponent over the Democratic nominee one time, and was even kicked out by KAREN BASS, yeah, you read that right, after refusing to vote on a state spending bill. From then on, she worked with Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (does he really need any introduction?), supported Carly Fiorina for Senate, and is now running for State Senate. Her campaign website appears to not be working.
By the way, did I mention Parra previously this year was running against Congressman David Valadao? Oh, I didn’t, well, I’m mentioning it because another previous candidate against Valadao this year is also running for the seat.
The only actually left winged candidate in this race, Delano Mayor Bryan Osorio, has built up a massive coalition due to that fact. Previously running against Valadao, he made tons of ties with party institutional organizations, and thus, has been able to grab their support. Being endorsed by the Working Families Party, the California Young Democrats, Sierra Club, and more, he has a platform consisting of having a minimum wage at $18 an hour, Medicare for All, affordable housing, and a constitutional right to water.
We’ll see if Osorio makes it due to a conservative vote split, but damn, this race is crazy.
State Senate ~ District 20
This district, containing most of the San Fernando Valley, has incumbent Robert Hertzberg term-limited. Thus, out came three Democrats running to replace him.
Starting with the candidacy of Seydi Alejandra Morales, an attorney, Morales is running mostly on universal pre-K, affordable college tuition, livable wages, and more. Morales appears to not have gotten a lot of attention in her bid, especially on the social media world.
Carolina Menjivar, a social worker and veteran, is running on a relatively progressive platform. Endorsed by the Los Angeles Times, several unions, and organizations like the Working Families Party. She has also been endorsed by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, progressive Los Angeles District Attorney Eric Garcetti, and several state legislators, such as State Senator Connie Leyva.
Daniel Hertzberg, the son of the incumbent, previously was a business travel sales manager. With his status of being the son of a politician, he has been able to captivate and build several ties with many politicians in California. He has been endorsed by the California Democratic Party, Congressman Tony Cardenas, Treasurer Fiona Ma, and a very, very, very long list of State Legislators. He claims a progressive platform consisting of stuff such as guaranteeing healthcare for all, combating the climate crisis, and more, but has been criticized as a “machine candidate”.
Both Hertzberg and Menjivar are LGBTQ+. I would view Hertzberg as the frontrunner due to his massive amount of endorsements and name recognition, but I could see Menjivar doing pretty well.
State Senate ~ District 30
In this Los Angeles district, State Senator Bob Archuleta is facing a primary from Whittier City Councilmember Henry Bouchot.
Bouchot is running against Archuleta due to Archuleta facing sexual harassment allegations. Bouchot is running on a pretty progressive platform consisting of universal healthcare and has been backed by a large group of local officials, as well as VoteVets PAC due to him being a veteran.
Archuleta, however, is running a campaign with significant backing. Facing endorsements from Congresswomen Grace Napolitano, Judy Chu, Lucille Roybal-Allard, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond.
Due to this, with Archuleta facing more name recognition, I’d say he probably has the race, but Bouchot absolutely deserves to win considering the sexual harassment claims.
Elections in California are wild, and there’s too many in all honesty. That’s my take of the day.
