ACSS Legislative Advocate, Ted Toppin, provides a summary of how well our ACSS-Endorsed Candidates fared in the recent General Election:
Election Day results were very positive for ACSS and ACSS-endorsed candidates. Overall, the ACSS candidate or ballot measure was successful in 99 of the 103 races that have been determined thus far. Six races are still too close to call.
Statewide Races
In races that were decided yesterday, seven out of 8 of ACSS’ endorsed candidates for statewide office – including gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newsom – were victorious. Newsom will be sworn in as the next Governor of California on January 7, 2019. Other winners were Xavier Becerra for Attorney General, Betty Yee for Controller, Fiona Ma for Treasurer, Alex Padilla for Secretary of State, Malia Cohen for BOE District 2, and Joel Anderson for BOE District 4. The races for Insurance Commissioner and Superintendent of Public Instruction are too close to call at this time. Unfortunately, ACSS-endorsed Senator Dr. Ed Hernandez was unsuccessful in his race for Lieutenant Governor.
Legislative Races
In legislative races, the ACSS-endorsed candidate prevailed in 92 and lost in 3 of the races in which ACSS took a position. Three Assembly seats and one Senate seat are still up in the air.
In the Assembly, the ACSS candidate won in 77 races and lost in 1. In contested open seat contests, ACSS was 4-1, including victories by Buffy Wicks (D-Berkeley) in AD 15, Robert Rivas (D-Hollister) in AD 30, James Ramos (D-Inland Empire) in AD 40, and Tasha Boerner Horvath (D-Carlsbad) in AD 76.
In AD 38, ACSS-endorsed candidate Dante Acosta (R-Santa Clarita) is neck and neck with his opponent Christy Smith. With only 1% of votes separating them, it is too close to say who will come out on top. In AD 60, ACSS-endorsed Sabrina Cervantes (D- Corona) is essentially tied with her Republican challenger Bill Essayli. Similarly, ACSS candidate Matthew Harper (R-Huntington Beach) holds only a narrow lead over Democrat Cottie Petrie-Norris in AD 74. The one unsuccessful ACSS-endorsed candidate was Josh Lowenthal (D-Huntington Beach) who was defeated in AD 72 by Republican Tyler Diep.
Of the 18 Senate races in which ACSS took a position, 15 candidates were victorious, 2 candidates lost, and one is still too close to call. In open seat races, ACSS was 2-1.
ACSS-endorsed candidate Maria Elena Durazo (D-Los Angeles) was victorious in SD 24, as was Brian Jones (R-Santee) in SD 38. Mike Eng (D-Los Angeles) was defeated in the race for SD 22. ACSS-endorsed candidate Anna Caballero (D-Salinas) is holding on to a narrow 1% lead over her opponent in SD 12 with votes still to be counted. In SD 14, ACSS-endorsed Senator Andy Vidak (R-Hanford) was defeated by his Democratic challenger Melissa Hurtado.
Statewide Ballot Measures
The ACSS Board voted to oppose Proposition 6 (2017 Gas Tax Repeal Initiative), which failed on Election Day.
Click here for complete election results for ACSS-endorsed candidates. Open seat candidates are in bold.