2009 California's 10th congressional district special election

California's 10th congressional district special election, 2009 was held on November 3, 2009, to fill the vacancy caused in California's 10th congressional district by the resignation of Ellen Tauscher. Democratic Party candidate John Garamendi won against Republican opponent David Harmer.

2009 California's 10th congressional district special election

← 2008 November 3, 2009 (2009-11-03) 2010 →

Nominee John Garamendi David Harmer Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 72,817 59,017 Percentage 52.8% 42.8%

Runoff county results Garamendi:      40–50%      50–60% Harmer:      50–60%

Representative before election Ellen Tauscher Democratic Elected Representative John Garamendi Democratic

Background and procedures for election

On May 5, 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Democratic Representative Ellen Tauscher for the position of Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security.^[1] She was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 26 and subsequently resigned from her congressional seat.^[2]

Following her resignation, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called a special election. An open primary among candidates of all political parties took place on September 1, 2009. If a candidates received a majority of the vote in the primary, that candidate would wins the seat without an additional election. As that didn't occur, the general election took place on November 3, 2009, between the candidates with the most votes for each party.

Candidates

The following individuals appeared in the certified list of candidates and the certified list of write-in candidates published by the Secretary of State of California, and were thus eligible to receive votes in the special primary election.^[3][4]

American Independent

• Jerome "Jerry" Denham, an insurance agent

Democratic

• Tiffany René Estrella Attwood, a write-in candidate
• Joan Buchanan, the State Assemblymember from the 15th district
• Mark DeSaulnier, the State Senator from the 7th district who was endorsed by Tauscher as her successor^[5]
• John Garamendi, the Lieutenant Governor
• Adriel Hampton, a Government 2.0 blogger and investigator for the San Francisco City Attorney
• Anthony Woods, an Iraq War Veteran and economic policy analyst

Green

• Jeremy Cloward, a community college instructor

Peace and Freedom

• Mary C. McIlroy

Republican

• Chris Bunch, a small business owner
• Gary W. Clift, a retired police officer
• David Harmer, an independent businessman
• Mark Loos, a small business owner
• David Peterson, an accountability system owner
• John Toth, a physician

Polling

General election

Poll source	Date	John Garamendi	David Harmer	Other
Survey USA[6]	October 26–28, 2009	50%	40%	6%

Results

Primary

Since no candidate won a majority in the September 1, 2009, open primary, the candidates with the top votes for each party advanced to the special general election. Garamendi won more votes than any other Democrat and Harmer more than any Republican. Denham, Cloward, and McIlroy were the only candidates from their parties so they advanced the general election by default.

California's 10th congressional district special primary, 2009^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	John Garamendi	27,580	25.70
	Republican	David Harmer	22,582	21.05
	Democratic	Mark DeSaulnier	18,888	17.60
	Democratic	Joan Buchanan	12,896	12.02
	Democratic	Anthony Woods	9,388	8.75
	Republican	Chris Bunch	4,871	4.54
	Republican	Gary Clift	4,158	3.88
	Republican	John Toth	3,340	3.11
	Republican	David Peterson	1,671	1.56
	Green	Jeremy Cloward	552	0.51
	Republican	Mark Loos	418	0.39
	Democratic	Adriel Hampton	376	0.35
	American Independent	Jerome Denham	309	0.29
	Peace and Freedom	Mary McIlroy	272	0.25
	Democratic	Tiffany Attwood (write-in)	2	0.00
Total votes			107,303	100.00
Turnout				29.39

General

California's 10th congressional district special election, 2009^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	John Garamendi	72,817	52.85
	Republican	David Harmer	59,017	42.83
	Green	Jeremy Cloward	2,515	1.83
	Peace and Freedom	Mary McIlroy	1,846	1.34
	American Independent	Jerome Denham	1,591	1.15
Total votes			137,786	100.00
Turnout				35.33
	Democratic hold