If voters in Northern California were in the mood for change, they didn’t show it during yesterday’s primary election. From the area’s congressional seats, to the state Senate and Assembly, incumbents trounced their closest challengers, mostly by large margins.
In California’s First Congressional District, Republican incumbent Doug LaMalfa out-polled Democrat Audrey Denney nearly 2-to-1. In District Two, Democrat Jared Huffman got well over twice the votes of his closest competitor, Republican Dale Mensing.
First District State Senator Brian Dahle got 63 percent of the vote to 31 percent by Democrat Pamela Dawn Schwartz.
In the California Assembly, incumbent Megan Dahle led Democrat Elizabeth Betancourt 56 to 34 percent in the First District, and Democratic incumbent Jim Wood held a solid 59 to 41 percent lead over Republican Charlotte Svolos in the Second District.
Voters also defeated local sales tax measures in Shasta and Tehama Counties.
All results are as of 11:00 p.m. Tuesday night.
Under California’s top-two voting system, the pair of candidates in each race who got the most votes will go head-to-head in the general election in November.