2016 California elections

California state elections in 2016 were held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016, with the primary elections being held on June 7, 2016. In addition to the U.S. presidential race, California voters elected one member to the United States Senate, all of California's seats to the House of Representatives, all of the seats of the State Assembly, and all odd-numbered seats of the State Senate.

2016 California elections

← 2014 November 8, 2016 2018 →
Registered	19,411,771[1]
Turnout	75.27% ( 33.07 pp)[1]

Pursuant to Proposition 14 passed in 2010, California uses a nonpartisan blanket primary for almost all races, with the presidential primary races being the notable exception. Under the nonpartisan blanket primary system, all the candidates for the same elected office, regardless of respective political party, run against each other at once during the primary. The candidates receiving the most and second-most votes in the primary election then become the contestants in the general election.

President of the United States

Main article: United States presidential election in California, 2016

Democratic primary

Main article: California Democratic primary, 2016

e • d 2016 Democratic Party's presidential nominating process in California
– Summary of results –

Candidate	Popular vote		Estimated delegates
	Count	Percentage	Pledged	Unpledged	Total
Hillary Clinton	2,745,302	53.07%	254	66	320
Bernie Sanders	2,381,722	46.04%	221	0	221
Willie Wilson	12,014	0.23%
Michael Steinberg	10,880	0.21%
Rocky De La Fuente	8,453	0.16%
Henry Hewes	7,743	0.15%
Keith Judd	7,201	0.14%
Write-in	23	0.00%
Uncommitted	—			10	10
Total	5,173,338	100%	475	76	551
Source: [2][3]

Republican primary

Main article: California Republican primary, 2016

California Republican primary, June 7, 2016

Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Actual delegate count
			Bound	Unbound	Total
Donald Trump	1,665,135	74.76%	172	0	172
John Kasich (withdrawn)	252,544	11.34%	0	0	0
Ted Cruz (withdrawn)	211,576	9.50%	0	0	0
Ben Carson (withdrawn)	82,259	3.69%	0	0	0
Jim Gilmore (withdrawn)	15,691	0.70%	0	0	0
Write-ins	101	0.00%	0	0	0
Unprojected delegates:			0	0	0
Total:	2,227,306	100.00%	172	0	172
Source: The Green Papers

General election

2016 U.S. presidential election in California^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Hillary Clinton	8,753,788	61.73%
	Republican	Donald Trump	4,483,810	31.62%
	Libertarian	Gary Johnson	478,500	3.37%
	Green	Jill Stein	278,657	1.96%
	Independent	Bernie Sanders (write-in)	79,341	0.56%
	Peace and Freedom	Gloria La Riva	66,101	0.47%
	Independent	Evan McMullin (write-in)	39,596	0.28%
	Independent	Mike Maturen (write-in)	1,316	0.01%
	Independent	Laurence Kotlikoff (write-in)	402	0.00%
	Independent	Jerry White (write-in)	84	0.00%
Total votes			14,181,595	100.00%

United States Senate

Main article: United States Senate election in California, 2016

Under California's nonpartisan blanket primary law, passed as California Proposition 14 (2010), all candidates for Senate appear on the ballot, regardless of party. Members of any party may vote for any candidate, with the top two vote getters moving on to the general election. Incumbent Barbara Boxer did not seek re-election, which makes this the first open Senate seat election in 24 years in California.

Primary results^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Kamala Harris	3,000,689	39.9%
	Democratic	Loretta Sanchez	1,416,203	18.9%
	Republican	Duf Sundheim	584,251	7.8%
	Republican	Phil Wyman	352,821	4.7%
	Republican	Tom Del Beccaro	323,614	4.3%
	Republican	Greg Conlon	230,944	3.1%
	Democratic	Steve Stokes	168,805	2.2%
	Republican	George C. Yang	112,055	1.5%
	Republican	Karen Roseberry	110,557	1.5%
	Libertarian	Gail K. Lightfoot	99,761	1.3%
	Democratic	Massie Munroe	98,150	1.3%
	Green	Pamela Elizondo	95,677	1.3%
	Republican	Tom Palzer	93,263	1.2%
	Republican	Ron Unz	92,325	1.2%
	Republican	Don Krampe	69,635	0.9%
	No party preference	Eleanor García	65,084	0.9%
	Republican	Jarrell Williamson	64,120	0.9%
	Republican	Von Hougo	63,609	0.8%
	Democratic	President Cristina Grappo	63,330	0.8%
	No party preference	Jerry J. Laws	53,023	0.7%
	Libertarian	Mark Matthew Herd	41,344	0.6%
	Peace and Freedom	John Thompson Parker	35,998	0.5%
	No party preference	Ling Ling Shi	35,196	0.5%
	Democratic	Herbert G. Peters	32,638	0.4%
	Democratic	Emory Peretz Rodgers	31,485	0.4%
	No party preference	Mike Beitiks	31,450	0.4%
	No party preference	Clive Grey	29,418	0.4%
	No party preference	Jason Hanania	27,715	0.4%
	No party preference	Paul Merritt	24,031	0.3%
	No party preference	Jason Kraus	19,318	0.3%
	No party preference	Don J. Grundmann	15,317	0.2%
	No party preference	Scott A. Vineberg	11,843	0.2%
	No party preference	Tim Gildersleeve	9,798	0.1%
	No party preference	Gar Myers	8,726	0.1%
	Republican	Billy Falling (write-in)	87	0.0%
	No party preference	Ric M. Llewellyn (write-in)	32	0.0%
	Republican	Alexis Stuart (write-in)	10	0.0%
Total votes			7,512,322	100.0%

General election results^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Kamala Harris	7,542,753	61.60%	N/A
	Democratic	Loretta Sanchez	4,701,417	38.40%	N/A
Total votes			'12,244,170'	'100.0%'	N/A
	Democratic hold

United States House of Representatives

Main article: United States House of Representatives elections in California, 2016

State Senate

Main article: California State Senate election, 2016

State Assembly

Main article: California State Assembly election, 2016

Propositions

June primary election

Since the passage of a law in November 2011, state primary elections may only feature propositions placed on the ballot by the state legislature.^[7]

№	Result[8]	Description
50	Passed	Amends the state constitution to require a two-thirds vote in the respective chamber of the state legislature to suspend a state senator or assembly member. The proposal would also withhold the salaries and benefits of the suspended legislator.[9][10]

November general election

The number of propositions in this election was significantly larger than previous elections. The increase has been attributed to the relatively low number of signatures required for ballot placement for this election. The number of signatures required for ballot placement is a percentage of the turnout in the previous election. Since the turnout in the November 2014 elections was low, the number of signatures required for ballot placement in 2016 was 365,880, whereas the typical requirement is well over half a million signatures.^[11]

№	Result[6]	Description
51	Passed	School Bonds. Funding for K-12 School and Community College Facilities. Initiative Statutory Amendment. This initiative statutory amendment would authorize $9 billion in bonds for school construction and modernization.[12][13]
52	Passed	State Fees on Hospitals. Federal Medi-Cal Matching Funds. Initiative Statutory and Constitutional Amendment. Among others, this proposed initiative statutory and constitutional amendment would require a two-thirds vote in the state legislature to change laws that impose fees on hospitals for purpose of obtaining federal Medi-Cal matching funds.[12][14]
53	Failed	Revenue Bonds. Statewide Voter Approval. Initiative Constitutional Amendment. This initiative constitutional amendment requires statewide voter approval for revenue bonds exceeding $2 billion for projects financed, owned, operated, or managed by the state or any joint agency created by or including the state.[12][15]
54	Passed	Legislature. Legislation and Proceedings. Initiative Constitutional Amendment and Statute. Among other requirements, prohibits the legislature from passing any bill unless it has been published on the internet and in print for at least 72 hours prior to the vote.[16]
55	Passed	Tax Extension to Fund Education and Healthcare. Initiative Constitutional Amendment. Extends income tax increases from 2012 and allocates the revenue from them for K-12 schools, community colleges, and healthcare programs.[12][17]
56	Passed	Cigarette Tax to Fund Healthcare, Tobacco Use Prevention, Research, and Law Enforcement. Initiative Constitutional Amendment and Statute. Increases cigarette tax by $2.00 a pack and allocates revenues to healthcare programs and tobacco research.[12][18]
57	Passed	Criminal Sentences. Juvenile Criminal Proceedings and Sentencing. Initiative Constitutional Amendment and Statute. Increases access to parole for people convicted of nonviolent felonies and modifies how juvenile defendants can be tried as adults.[12][19]
58	Passed	Senate Bill 1174: This mandatory proposition, placed by the state legislature and Governor on September 2, 2014, would repeal most of 1998's California Proposition 227, and thus allow multi-language education in public schools.[12][20]
59	Passed	Senate Bill 254: This mandatory proposition asks voters if they want California to work towards overturning the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling, in a similar manner to Proposition 49 from 2014 (which was removed from the ballot by the state supreme court).[12][21]
60	Failed	Adult Films. Condoms. Health Requirements. Among other requirements, this initiative statute would mandate the use of condoms in adult films and require that producers of said films pay for STI testing and vaccinations for their performers.[12][22]
61	Failed	State Prescription Drug Purchases. Pricing Standards. This initiative statute prohibits California state agencies from paying more for prescriptions drugs than the United States Department of Veterans Affairs pays.[12][23]
62	Failed	Death Penalty. Initiative Statute. Repeals the death penalty and replaces it with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole as the maximum punishment for murder.[12][24]
63	Passed	Firearms. Ammunition Sales. Initiative Statute.[12][25]
64	Passed	Marijuana Legalization. Initiative Statute. Legalizes marijuana and hemp while imposing cultivation taxes and distribution standards.[12][26]
65	Failed	Carry-Out Bags. Charges. Initiative Statute. Redirects revenues from the sale of carry-out bags at grocery stores to environmental projects under the Wildlife Conservation Board.[12][27]
66	Passed	Death Penalty. Procedures. Initiative Statute. Limits death penalty appeals and length of time for death penalty review. Invalidates Proposition 62 if passed by a larger proportion of the popular vote.[12][28]
67	Passed	Referendum to Ban Single-Use Plastic Bags. This is a referendum on a law signed by the Governor on September 30, 2014, that would impose a statewide ban on the distribution of single-use plastic bags at grocery stores.[12][29]