On Tuesday, June 2, California’s two LGBTQ congressional candidates advanced to November’s general election after finishing among the top two vote-getters in their respective races in the state’s jungle primary.
According to results from the Secretary of State’s Office, California’s 11th Congressional District election saw 50% of the votes cast, with openly gay state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) leading a field of 11 candidates with 41% of the vote. San Francisco City Supervisor Connie Chan (Democrat) came in second with 29%, and Saikat Chakrabarti of the Democratic Socialist Party came in third with about 15%.
Under California’s “all-comers” jungle primary system, all candidates compete on the same ballot, and the top two vote-getters advance to the general election, regardless of party affiliation. Many Californians vote by mail, so it often takes weeks for final results to be counted. This is especially true in crowded primaries where margins can be relatively narrow.
The election for California’s 48th Congressional District, which stretches from the suburbs of San Diego to the LGBTQ-friendly city of Palm Springs, saw 57% of votes counted, with Democratic San Diego City Council member Marni von Wilpert coming in second out of 12 candidates with about 20% of the vote. She finished well ahead of fellow Democratic Party candidate Ammar Campa-Najjar, who came in third place and received about 10% of the vote.
Von Wilpert, who is lesbian, will face Republican San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond in the 2024 general election, which was redrawn from a district that President Donald Trump won by 17 points to a district won by former Vice President Kamala Harris by 3 points.
The 48th Congressional District is expected to be one of four semi-competitive congressional races in California this November, all of which have been redrawn to slightly favor Democrats. The state’s other legislative seats have largely favored one party, with Democrats holding a 44-4 advantage following the mid-decade contest. redistricting push. As a result, political observers expect big spending by outside groups and super PACs as Democrats try to regain control of Congress and Republicans struggle to hold on.
As of Wednesday morning, results for other LGBTQ candidates in California were mixed, but some races remain close as mail-in ballots continue to be counted.
Incumbent state senators Caroline Menjivar (D-Panorama City) and Steve Padilla (D-Chula Vista) advanced to the general election, taking first place with 56.3% and 60.2% of the vote, respectively. However, Juan Camacho, a former government affairs expert running for State Senate District 26, fell short, finishing in sixth place with 7.9% of the vote.
Meanwhile, West Hollywood City Councilman John Erickson, who is running for State Senate District 24, came in third with 16.4% of the vote, less than 4,000 votes behind second place. It remains unclear whether the remaining mail-in votes could change the outcome of the race. Mr. Erickson has recently been a political target. attack There, flyers featuring AI-generated images evoking homophobic tropes about homosexuals were mailed to voters, funded by political action committees tied to developer and corporate interests.
In the Congressional elections, incumbents Christopher Ward (D-San Diego), Sadeh El-Hawary (D-Los Angeles), Alex Lee (D-San Jose), Jose Luis Solache Jr. (D-Lynnwood), Rick Chavez Zubur (D-Los Angeles), and Corey Jackson (D-Perris) all advanced to the general election. Rep. Mark Gonzalez (D-Los Angeles) also advanced as an unopposed candidate. Meanwhile, Scott Houston, a gay man seeking the 66th Congressional District seat in the South Bay area of Los Angeles County, received only 5.2% of the vote and did not advance.
Incumbent Los Angeles County Assessor Jeff Prang advanced to the general election with 56.77% of the vote out of five candidates. Meanwhile, Covina City Treasurer Neil Polzin secured victory in the general election with more than 60% of the vote, while Tal Khan Valbuena advanced in the race for a Los Angeles Superior Court seat with 50.91%. Other LGBTQ candidates also ran for local offices such as mayor, city council, and school board.
In addition to California, five other states held their primaries on June 2: New Jersey, South Dakota, Montana, Iowa, and New Mexico. Only a handful of these races, primarily for statehouse and county supervisor positions, involved known LGBTQ candidates.
In South Dakota, Adam Baer, a gay man, entered the general election as one of two Democrats nominated for two House seats representing the 10th District, which includes part of Sioux Falls. In Montana, incumbent state Rep. Zooey Zephyr (D-Missoula), the state’s first transgender lawmaker, and SJ Howell (D-Missoula), the state’s first non-binary lawmaker, won reelection from both parties. Meanwhile, Brady Bremer, who is gay, secured the Democratic nomination for a House seat representing part of the Bozeman area.
In Iowa, two LGBTQ candidates appeared poised to win the Democratic nomination for the Johnson County Board of Supervisors seat, based on unofficial results. Mandy Remington, the current District 5 supervisor, led in the primary with 61% of the vote, and V. Fixmar-Ollize, who would be the state’s first non-binary supervisor if elected, led in the District 4 primary with 56%.
In the Iowa House of Representatives elections, incumbent state Rep. Iim Wigtendahl (D-Hiawatha), who will be the first transgender person to be elected to the state legislature in 2024, and openly gay Rep. Eleanor Levin (D-Iowa City) have advanced to the general election and are unlikely to face opposition from Republicans or independents. Drew Stensland, a gay man who won the open seat representing the Cedar Falls area in the Democratic primary, also appears to have no opponent in the general election. A fourth LGBTQ candidate, Kody Smith, lost the Democratic primary for a state House seat in the Des Moines area.
Source: Metro Weekly – www.metroweekly.com
