Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective

2022 United States Senate elections in California

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2022 United States Senate elections in California
Remove ads

Two 2022 United States Senate elections in California were held concurrently on November 8, 2022, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of California. There were two ballot items for the same Class 3 seat: a special election to fill the seat for the final weeks of the 117th United States Congress (ending on January 3, 2023), and a general election for a full term (beginning on the same day), starting in the 118th United States Congress.

Quick facts Candidate, Party ...

Incumbent Democratic Senator Alex Padilla was appointed in 2021 by Governor Gavin Newsom to fill the vacancy created by Kamala Harris's election to the vice presidency in 2020, and he sought a full term.[1][2] A jungle primary for each of the terms took place on June 7.[3] The top two candidates in each primary, regardless of party, advanced to the special and regular general elections in November. With his advancement out of the primary, Mark P. Meuser (/ˈmɔɪʒər/ MOY-zhər) became the first Republican since 2012 to advance to the general election, as both the 2016 and 2018 Senate elections solely featured Democrats as the top two candidates. This race was a rematch between the two, as both had previously run for the secretary of state in 2018. Padilla won both elections with more than 60% of the vote.[4]

He became the first Latino elected to the U.S. Senate from California, and the first male elected to the Senate from California since Pete Wilson was re-elected in 1988 and the first male elected to the Class 3 Senate seat from California since Alan Cranston was re-elected in 1986.[5] This was the first time since 1988 where both major party nominees for a Senate seat in California were men and was also the first time where both major party nominees for the Class 3 Senate seat in California were men since 1986.

Remove ads

Candidates

Democratic Party

Advanced to general

Eliminated in primary

  • Akinyemi Agbede, mathematician[7]
  • Dan O'Dowd, founder and president of Green Hills Software and candidate for U.S. Senate in 1994[8]
  • Douglas Howard Pierce, businessman and candidate for U.S. Senate in 2018[7]
  • Obaidul Huq Pirjada, attorney[7]
  • Timothy J. Ursich, doctor[7]

Declined

Republican Party

Advanced to general

  • Mark P. Meuser, attorney and candidate for California Secretary of State in 2018[7]

Eliminated in primary

  • James P. Bradley, businessman, candidate for U.S. Senate in 2018, and candidate for California's 33rd congressional district in 2020[7]
  • Jon Elist, small business owner[7]
  • Myron L. Hall, physician[7]
  • Sarah Sun Liew, entrepreneur[7]
  • Robert George Lucero Jr., consultant[7]
  • Enrique Petris, businessman[7]
  • Chuck Smith, retired law enforcement officer[7]
  • Carlos Guillermo Tapia, businessman[7]
  • Cordie Williams, marine veteran and doctor[7]
  • Lijun Zhou, businesswoman (write-in, general election only)[11]

Withdrawn

Green Party

Eliminated in primary

Peace and Freedom Party

Eliminated in primary

No party preference

Eliminated in primary

Remove ads

Primary elections

Summarize
Perspective

Endorsements

James P. Bradley (R)

Individuals

Mark Meuser (R)

Newspapers

Organizations

Alex Padilla (D)

U.S. Senators

Statewide officials

U.S. Representatives

Organizations

Newspapers

Stonewall Democrats clubs

  • Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club (San Francisco)[37]
  • East Bay Stonewall Democratic Club (Berkeley)[38]
  • Fresno Stonewall Democrats[39]
  • Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club (San Francisco)[40]
  • San Diego Democrats for Equality[41]
  • Stonewall Democrats[42]
John Parker (P&F)

Campaign

Incumbent senator Alex Padilla was appointed to the job in January 2021 following Kamala Harris's election to the office of Vice President of the United States.[43] Following his appointment, Padilla quickly began to focus on his 2022 election campaign, as the fact that he has not been elected to the position means that he has a relatively low profile.[9] Padilla's election strategy focused on advocating for progressive policies and building ties with left-wing organizations that had a poor relationship with California's other Senator, Dianne Feinstein.[9][44] The potential Democratic opponent to Padilla considered most likely to join the race was U.S. Representative Ro Khanna, a staunchly left-wing Democrat who rose to prominence as the co-chair of the Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign, and who had a loyal base of support from California's Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities.[9][10] On August 9, 2021, Khanna announced that he would be endorsing Padilla for election, which was viewed as likely ending any possibility that Padilla would face a serious Democratic opponent.[45] It was noted by the San Francisco Chronicle that it was considered unlikely that Padilla would face any serious Republican opponent, as California's heavily Democratic lean caused potentially strong candidates, such as U.S. Representatives Mike Garcia and Young Kim, to prefer to remain in their positions rather than launch a long-shot Senate run.[46]

In April 2022, billionaire businessman Dan O'Dowd entered the race, launching a $650,000 ad campaign.[8] O'Dowd's goal with this ad buy, and with entering the race in the first place, was to "make computers safe for humanity"[47][48] and draw the attention of the public and politicians to the dangers of Tesla's unfinished Full Self-Driving software being rolled out to 100,000 cars on public roads.[49]

Special election blanket primary

Polling

More information Poll source, Date(s) administered ...

Results

Thumb
Results by county
  Padilla
  •   20–30%
  •   30–40%
  •   40–50%
  •   50–60%
  •   60–70%
  •   70–80%
  •   80–90%
  Meuser
  •   30–40%
  •   40–50%
More information Party, Candidate ...

Regular election blanket primary

Polling

More information Poll source, Date(s) administered ...

Results

Thumb
Results by county
  Padilla
  •   20–30%
  •   30–40%
  •   40–50%
  •   50–60%
  •   60–70%
  •   70–80%
  Meuser
  •   20–30%
More information Party, Candidate ...
Remove ads

General elections

Summarize
Perspective

Predictions

More information Source, Ranking ...

Polling

Special election

More information Poll source, Date(s) administered ...

Regular election

More information Poll source, Date(s) administered ...

Results

More information Party, Candidate ...
More information Party, Candidate ...

By county

More information By county, County ...

By congressional district

Padilla won 42 of 52 congressional districts in the regular and special elections, including two that elected Republicans.[69]

More information District, Padilla ...
Remove ads

See also

Notes

  1. In January 2021, Padilla was appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Senator Kamala Harris, who had been elected Vice President of the United States.
  2. Key:
    A – all adults
    RV – registered voters
    LV – likely voters
    V – unclear
  3. Garcia is listed on the ballot as a "no party preference" candidate because the Socialist Workers Party did not have ballot access in California at the time the ballot was printed.[53]
  4. Grundmann is listed on the ballot as a "no party preference" candidate because the Constitution Party did not have ballot access in California at the time the ballot was printed.[54]
Remove ads

References

Loading related searches...

Wikiwand - on

Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.

Remove ads