Tuesday’s primary election saw low voter turnout, lots of mail, and few surprises. We are still waiting for a lot of votes to be counted. In Los Angeles County alone, there were over 400,000 ballots waiting to be counted 24 hours after the polls closed. So there is still time for a surprise or two.
Mostly we saw what was as expected: incumbents did well, monied candidates did well, party endorsements (of either party) played a major role, and young people did not turn out in unusually higher numbers than in past elections.
Candidates with NPP next to their names did not fare well. Former Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert switched party affiliation from Republican to No Party Preference to run for Attorney General. She is currently in 4th place with 8% of the vote.
Statewide, most of the incumbents easily beat back challengers and will have an easy time in November. Results showed nothing shocking in the open seats. For Controller, Republican Lanhee Chen received 37% of the vote and will face Democrat Malia Cohen who received 21% of the vote.
For Insurance Commissioner, incumbent Democrat Ricardo Lara has a strong lead with 37% of the vote. The vote count is still too close to confirm who his opponent will be. Republican Robert Howell has a 1% lead on Democrat Marc Levine. Republican Greg Conlon is very close on their heels.