With Assembly win, Democrats bolster their supermajority

California Democrats appear to have bolstered their historic supermajority in the Assembly.

Final election results released Sunday by Los Angeles County elections officials showed Democrat Steve Fox beating Republican Ron Smith by 145 votes in a Southern California swing district that spans three counties.

The victory gives Democrats 55 seats in the lower house -- one more than a two-thirds supermajority -- and some padding as Assembly Speaker John A. Perez (D-Los Angeles) seeks to maintain his caucus' tenuous numbers. Assembly members are expected to run for the seats of two state senators who are leaving the Legislature for Congress next year.

Fox, however, could prove an unpredictable vote. According to the Sacramento Bee, the attorney and teacher ran as a Republican in a 2008 Assembly contest and has signed an anti-tax pledge.

The final Los Angeles County vote count Sunday also showed the winner in another upset widening his margin of victory. In District 50, Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom bested incumbent Assemblywoman Betsy Butler (D-Marina del Rey) by 1,705 votes.

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Bloom declares victory in tight Westside Assembly race

The latest ballot count prompted one of the contenders in a close Assembly contest to declare himself the winner.

The Wednesday afternoon update by Los Angeles County election officials led Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom to declare victory in an email thanking supporters after his lead over Assemblywoman Betsy Butler grew to 1,246 votes.  Both candidates are Democrats.

The Butler campaign could not be reached for immediate comment Wednesday.

[Updated at 7:32 p.m. Butler campaign manager Parke Skelton said Wednesday evening that he did not expect Butler to be able to make up the difference. "It's over," Skelton said.]

County officials plan another update Friday as they work to finish counting ballots from the Nov. 6 election.  Counties must finish and report results to the secretary of state's office by Dec. 4; legislators are to be sworn in Dec. 3.

Countywide, fewer than 100,000 ballots remain to be counted, according to some unofficial rough estimates.

In another close Assembly race, Lancaster City Councilman and former Sheriff's Deputy Ron Smith, a Republican, held a 969-vote lead over Demoratic attorney Steve Fox. The 36th Assembly District tends to vote Republican, although the registration is nearly evenly divided.

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Photos: Betsy Butler and Richard Bloom. Credits: Butler campaign and, for Bloom, Danny Moloshok/Associated Press

 

Butler slips farther behind Bloom in latest vote update

 

Assemblywoman Betsy Butler has slipped 888 votes behind Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom in their close race for an Assembly seat on the Westside.

The most recent ballot tally by Los Angeles County election officials, released Monday afternoon, showed Bloom with 89,705 votes to Butler's 88,817. This is the widest margin to date in the race as counties continue to process ballots they were unable to count on election night.

Counties have until Dec. 4 to finish counting those ballots, which consist of some mail-in ballots; some so-called "provisionals," which have to be checked against voter registration rosters and verified as valid; and some too damaged to be read by tabulating machines.

Both candidates are Democrats who competed in the Nov. 6 general election because of the state's new "top two" primary system. Incumbent Butler had substantial backing from Assembly Speaker John A. Perez (D-Los Angeles) and the California Democratic Party.

County officials, who have been processing ballots daily and posting updated tallies every few days, could not say how many ballots remain to be counted in this race.

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Photos: Assembly candidates Betsy Butler and Richard Bloom. Credits: Butler campaign and Danny Moloshok / Associated Press

 

 

 

Bloom widens lead over Butler in tight Westside Assembly race

In the latest tally of ballots remaining from election day,  Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom widened his lead over Assemblywoman Betsy Butler to 430 votes.

Bloom has 87,270 votes, or 50.12%, to Butler's 86,840, or 49.88%, according to the update provided Friday afternoon by Los Angeles County elections officials.  The next update is scheduled for Monday.

The candidates for the 50th Assembly District on the Westside, both Democrats, are locked in one of the tightest races in California, with the outcome still uncertain more than two weeks after the Nov. 6 general election.

Counties have until Dec 4 to finish tabulating ballots and report results to the secretary of state.   Legislators are to be sworn in Dec. 3, putting extra pressure of election workers to finish the job. 

It was unknown Friday how many ballots remain to be tabulated in this contest.

 

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Photos: Assembly candidates Betsy Butler and Richard Bloom. Credits: Butler campaign and, for Bloom, Danny Moloshok/Associated Press

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bloom lead over Butler narrows in Assembly race

Santa Monica Mayor Richard's Bloom lead over Assemblywoman Betsy Butler in a tight Westside race has slipped to just 79 votes, the latest tally showed.

An updated ballot count Tuesday by the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder's office put Bloom's vote total to date at 85,508, or 50.02%, while Butler has 85,429, or 49.98%.

The next update will be Friday afternoon, elections officials said.

Countywide, nearly 216,000 ballots remain to be counted, officials said. They could not provide an estimate for the still-to-be-counted number in this contest, for the 50th Assembly District.

Both candidates are Democrats so the outcome will not affect the balance on power in the Assembly but could reflect on Assembly Speaker John A. Perez (D-Los Angeles), who strongly backed the incumbent Butler, as did the California Democratic Party.

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Photos: Assembly candidates Betsy Butler and Richard Bloom. Credits: Butler campaign and, for Bloom, Danny Moloshok/Associated Press

 

 

 

Bakersfield area Assembly race called, 2 others still being counted

Democrat Rudy Salas Jr., a Bakersfield city councilman, has won election over Republican Pedro Rios in one of two close state Assembly races needed to cement a two-thirds majority for Democrats in the lower house, according to the Associated Press.

Salas extended his lead to 2,503 votes on Tuesday morning. Rios, a former Delano city councilman who owns Rios Portable Toilets, had not conceded, but Salas supporters said his lead would be difficult to overcome given the ballots that remain to be counted in the 32^nd Assembly District.

To get a supermajority, Democrats also have to win the 65^th Assembly District race in Orange County.

There, Democrat Sharon Quirk-Silva, a Fullerton city council member, has a 2,222-vote lead over Republican Assemblyman Chris Norby of Fullerton. Norby has not conceded the contest. There were more than 14,800 ballots still to be counted.

In another close race, this one between two Democrats, Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom held a 103-vote lead over Assemblywoman Betsy Butler after 142,000 votes were counted in the 50^th Assembly District. An unkown number of other ballots remain to be counted.

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Gap shrinks in close Assembly race

A close Westside Assembly race got even tighter when Los Angeles County elections officials released an updated vote tally Friday afternoon.

Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom's 212-vote election night lead over Assemblywoman Betsy Butler dropped to 103 votes. 

Both candidates for the 50th Assembly District are Democrats and their Nov. 6 competition was made possible by the state's new primary system, which sends the top two vote-getters to the general election, regardless of party.

The Registrar-Recorder's office announced it had counted an additional 98,896 ballots countywide, mostly mail votes, since election night. More than 693,000 remain. 

Officials could not say how many ballots are yet to be tallied in specific contests. The next update is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

Statewide, some 3 million have yet to be processed. The uncounted are mostly vote-by-mail ballots submitted on election day and provisional ballots that include those turned in by people whose names were not on the lists at polling places but who believe they are registered to vote.

Counties have until Dec. 4 to finish tabulating the eligible ballots.

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Photo: Voting at an Alhambra fire station during the Nov. 6 general election. Credit: AFP / Getty Images

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two Democrats face off in hard-fought Westside Assembly contest

One of the more hotly contested state legislative races this year pits Assemblywoman Betsy Butler of Beverly Hills against Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom. They are battling so hard, voters might forget that both candidates are Democrats.

Butler has an edge in a couple of areas. She has been endorsed by the county and state Democratic parties and she has spent more than $1 million so far this year, more than twice the amount spent by Bloom. Special interests have independently put more than a quarter of a million dollars into the 50^th Assembly District race, evenly matched between the two candidates.

Theirs is one of 28 state legislative and congressional contests throughout California where candidates from the same party are facing off in the Nov. 6 election, thanks to a voter-approved reform that allowed the top two vote-getters in the primary to advance to the general contest, regardless of party affiliation.

The change presents both challenges and opportunities for Eric Bauman, chairman of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party. On one hand, his party wins no matter which candidate the voters pick.  On the other hand, an inter-party battle, whether it's Butler and Bloom or veteran Democratic Congressmen Howard Berman and Brad Sherman in the San Fernando Valley, can be divisive.

"This race and the Berman-Sherman race are examples of the worst possible outcomes for us because we have two good Democrats running against each other and it causes conflict between people," Bauman said.

Still, he said there was no thought of staying out of the Assembly contest, and the endorsement of Butler was made early in the year, when there were three Democrats and one Republican competing in the primary.

"There are some people who don’t believe  that the party should endorse a Democrat against a Democrat, even in the primary," Bauman said. "But our theory and belief is that part of the responsibility that we have is to educate voters about who believe is the best candidate in the race."

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Photo: Assemblywoman Betsy Butler and Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom. Credits: Butler campaign; Danny Moloshok / Associated Press

Outcomes remain uncertain in some California primary contests

The races aren’t quite over yet in a handful of California primary contests that were so close their outcomes may hinge on the ballots left uncounted on election night Tuesday.

As county elections officials work through the thousands of remaining ballots, candidates in three congressional races and more than  a dozen Assembly contests are waiting to see whether they will be on the ballot for the Nov. 6  general election.

Under the state’s new “top two” primary system, only the first- and second-place finishers in the primary can advance to the fall election.

Officials have less than a month to finish their tallies. Yet to be counted are mailed ballots that arrived by Election Day but were too late to be included in the tallies posted after the polls closed that night and so-called provisional ballots, which require checking for voter eligibility or duplication.

Among the contests too close to call  is the 13-candidate race in the inland 8th Congressional District, which includes the San Bernardino County mountains and deserts and Inyo and Mono counties. There, four candidates were bunched near the top: Republican Assemblyman Paul Cook of Yucca Valley, who was in first place; Lake Arrowhead home-builder and anti-illegal-immigration activist Gregg Imus, also a Republican; Barstow Democrat Jackie Conaway; and Phil Liberatore, a Republican tax consultant based in Whittier.

In San Diego County’s 52nd Congressional District, Democrats Lori Saldana, a former assemblywoman, and former San Diego City Councilman Scott Peters are battling for the second spot on the ballot. Peters finished 645 votes ahead of Saldana on election night. The eventual winner will face Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-Carlsbad) in November.

The outcomes also are uncertain in several Los Angeles-area Assembly contests.

Among the most hotly contested was the six-way dustup for the San Fernando Valley’s newly drawn, strongly Democratic 46th Assembly District. There L.A. City Council aide Adrin Nazarian finished first with 27.5% of the election night tally, with charter schools executive Brian Johnson second with 20.3%. Just 83 votes behind Johnson was teacher Jay Stern, followed by attorney Andrew Lachman, who trailed Johnson by 332  votes on election night. All are Democrats but Stern, who is a Republican.

For the Westside’s 50th Assembly District, the second-place finisher, Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom, led another Democrat, community activist Torie Osborn, who was 673 votes behind him, and environmental attorney Brad Torgan, the only Republican on the ballot, who trailed Bloom by 687 votes. Assemblywoman Betsy Butler (D-Marina del Rey) finished first -- 102 votes ahead of Bloom.

And in the eastern Los Angeles County 57th Assembly District, Ian Calderon, son of state Assemblyman Charles Calderon (D-Whittier), finished 231 votes ahead of former Democratic Assemblyman Rudy Bermudez for the second spot on the ballot. Republican Noel James finished first with 43.4% of the vote in the solidly Democratic district.

Los Angeles County elections officials said they plan to start releasing updated tallies on Friday. The next update after that will be on Tuesday. Results can be found on the county registrar’s website, www.lavote.net.  Election night results can be found on the Secretary of State’s website, www.sos.ca.gov.

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Photo: Voters cast ballots at an L.A. restaurant during the Tuesday's primary election. Credit: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times

Torie Osborn hopes to ‘friend’ voters

Assembly candidate Torie Osborn has begun using a new online social organizing tool designed to help her campaign volunteers reach out to their Facebook friends and mine votes from those who live in her Westside district.

The system can identify which of a person’s Facebook friends is registered to vote in  the 50th Assembly District, where Osborn is competing  with two other Democrats—Assemblywoman Betsy Butler and Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom—and  Republican Bradly S. Torgan, an environmental attorney.  The top two finishers in the June 5 primary will advance to the November general election, regardless of party, in the hard-fought, high-spending contest.  (Butler and Osborn both had nearly $500,000 in their campaign treasuries at the end of the latest reporting period.)

Once the “Facebook for Torie” system locates registered voters, it can send volunteers to a phone bank interface to contact those voters.  Based on their conversations,  the volunteers can label  each  voter “supporter,” “undecided” or “supporting another candidate” and the results are added to the voter file for the campaign’s records.  Volunteers can learn how to use the new system by watching a video on—what else?—YouTube. 

Osborn campaign advisor Dave Jacobson said this is the first time the organizing tool has been used in a California political campaign.  It recently won a Campaign Excellence Award for best use of new technology from the American Assn. of Political Consultants, based on its  debut  in a 2011 ballot measure campaign in Ohio.

This isn’t the first time the Osborn campaign has tapped into technology.  It recently began using a virtual phone banking operation in which volunteers can call voters from the comfort of their own homes.  No  more slogging  to the campaign office  through that notorious Westside traffic!

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Photo: Facebook signage at the company's Menlo Park campus. Credit: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg