2008 California State Senate election

The 2008 California State Senate elections took place on November 4, 2008. Voters in California's odd-numbered State Senate districts, a total of 20, voted for their state senators. No seats changed parties and the Democratic Party maintained its 25-seat majority, while the Republican Party held 15 seats. Other elections also took place in California on November 4.

2008 California State Senate election

← 2006 November 4, 2008 2010 →
20 seats from odd-numbered districts in the California State Senate 21 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Darrell Steinberg Dave Cogdill Party Democratic Republican Leader's seat 6th–Sacramento 14th–Modesto Seats before 25 15 Seats after 25 15 Seat change Popular vote 3,786,204 2,837,361 Percentage 55.06% 41.27%
Results:      Democratic hold      Republican hold      No election held
President pro tempore before election Darrell Steinberg Democratic Elected President pro tempore Darrell Steinberg Democratic

Only a single State Senate district, the 19th, was considered truly competitive by political analysts.^[1]

Overview

California State Senate elections, 2008[2][3]
Party		Votes	Percentage	Seats up	Seats not up	Total seats	+/–
	Democratic	3,786,204	55.06%	11	14	25	0
	Republican	2,837,361	41.27%	9	6	15	0
	Independent	131,248	1.91%	0	0	0	0
	Libertarian	94,132	1.37%	0	0	0	0
	Peace and Freedom	26,996	0.39%	0	0	0	0
Totals		6,875,941	100.00%	20	20	40	—
Voter turnout		72.60%

Composition

2007–2008 State Senate											2009–2010 State Senate
Color Key:   = Democratic   = Republican Pre-election Democratic: 25 Republican: 15 Total: 40 Contested: 20 Democratic uncontested: 14 Republican uncontested: 6 Total: 40 Post-election Democratic: 25 Republican: 15 Total: 40

Results

The following candidates are the official results from the California Secretary of State.^[2][3]

District 1 • District 3 • District 5 • District 7 • District 9 • District 11 • District 13 • District 15 • District 17 • District 19 • District 21 • District 23 • District 25 • District 27 • District 29 • District 31 • District 33 • District 35 • District 37 • District 39

District 1

California's 1st State Senate district election, 2008

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dave Cox (incumbent)	267,426	62.27
	Democratic	Anselmo Chavez	162,044	37.73
Total votes			429,470	100.00
Turnout				75.31
	Republican hold

District 3

California's 3rd State Senate district election, 2008

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Mark Leno	326,755	80.21
	Republican	Sashi McEntee	80,617	19.79
Total votes			407,372	100.00
Turnout				78.08
	Democratic hold

District 5

California's 5th State Senate district election, 2008

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Lois Wolk	207,108	64.54
	Republican	Greg Aghazarian	113,778	35.46
Total votes			320,886	100.00
Turnout				73.54
	Democratic hold

District 7

California's 7th State Senate district election, 2008

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Mark DeSaulnier	256,311	66.54
	Republican	Christian Amsberry	128,878	33.46
Total votes			385,189	100.00
Turnout				78.22
	Democratic hold

District 9

California's 9th State Senate district election, 2008

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Loni Hancock	272,225	77.22
	Republican	Claudia Bermudez	53,299	15.12
	Peace and Freedom	Marsha Feinland	26,996	7.66
Total votes			352,520	100.00
Turnout				70.50
	Democratic hold

District 11

California's 11th State Senate district election, 2008

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Joe Simitian (incumbent)	272,154	74.82
	Republican	Blair Nathan	91,592	25.18
Total votes			363,746	100.00
Turnout				76.37
	Democratic hold

District 13

California's 13th State Senate district election, 2008

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Elaine Alquist (incumbent)	179,855	70.94
	Republican	Shane Connolly	57,033	22.49
	Libertarian	John Webster	16,659	6.57
Total votes			253,547	100.00
Turnout				75.24
	Democratic hold

District 15

California's 15th State Senate district election, 2008

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Abel Maldonado (incumbent)	222,617	62.91
	Independent	Jim Fitzgerald	131,229	37.09
Total votes			353,846	100.00
Turnout				74.71
	Republican hold

District 17

California's 17th State Senate district election, 2008

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	George Runner (incumbent)	182,295	54.85
	Democratic	Bruce McFarland	150,060	45.15
Total votes			332,355	100.00
Turnout				70.90
	Republican hold

District 19

California's 19th State Senate district election, 2008

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Tony Strickland	207,976	50.10
	Democratic	Hannah-Beth Jackson	207,119	49.90
	Independent	Peter Diederich (write-in)	14	0.00
Total votes			415,109	100.00
Turnout				78.94
	Republican hold

District 21

California's 21st State Senate district election, 2008

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Carol Liu	204,737	66.88
	Republican	Teddy Choi	77,525	25.33
	Libertarian	Steve Myers	23,842	7.79
Total votes			306,104	100.00
Turnout				69.81
	Democratic hold

District 23

California's 23rd State Senate district election, 2008

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Fran Pavley	238,172	67.40
	Republican	Rick Montaine	96,274	27.25
	Libertarian	Colin Goldman	18,906	5.35
Total votes			353,352	100.00
Turnout				70.91
	Democratic hold

District 25

California's 25th State Senate district election, 2008

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Roderick Wright	179,654	71.90
	Republican	Lydia Gutierrez	70,199	28.10
Total votes			249,853	100.00
Turnout				66.73
	Democratic hold

District 27

California's 27th State Senate district election, 2008

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Alan Lowenthal (incumbent)	171,668	67.34
	Republican	Allen Wood	83,268	32.66
Total votes			254,936	100.00
Turnout				67.36
	Democratic hold

District 29

California's 29th State Senate district election, 2008

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bob Huff	178,155	54.37
	Democratic	Joseph Lyons	127,536	38.92
	Libertarian	Jill Stone	21,983	6.71
Total votes			327,674	100.00
Turnout				69.66
	Republican hold

District 31

California's 31st State Senate district election, 2008

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Robert Dutton (incumbent)	186,191	58.70
	Democratic	Ameenah Fuller	130,973	41.29
	Independent	Denise Sternberg (write-in)	5	0.00
Total votes			317,169	100.00
Turnout				70.43
	Republican hold

District 33

California's 33rd State Senate district election, 2008

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mimi Walters	219,068	58.11
	Democratic	Gary Pritchard	157,945	41.89
Total votes			377,013	100.00
Turnout				69.46
	Republican hold

District 35

California's 35th State Senate district election, 2008

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Tom Harman (incumbent)	222,149	58.55
	Democratic	Ginny Meyer	157,271	41.45
Total votes			379,420	100.00
Turnout				67.73
	Republican hold

District 37

California's 37th State Senate district election, 2008

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John Benoit	190,415	54.79
	Democratic	Arthur Guerrero	157,142	45.21
Total votes			347,557	100.00
Turnout				72.48
	Republican hold

District 39

California's 39th State Senate district election, 2008

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Christine Kehoe (incumbent)	227,475	65.21
	Republican	Jeff Perwin	108,606	31.13
	Libertarian	Jesse Thomas	12,742	3.65
Total votes			348,823	100.00
Turnout				73.39
	Democratic hold

References

1. Dayen, David (August 14, 2008). "The Calitics Target Book - The Drive For 2/3". Calitics. Archived from the original on November 27, 2008. Retrieved February 21, 2009.
2. "Statement of Vote: November 4, 2008, General Election" (PDF). California Secretary of State. December 15, 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 18, 2012. Retrieved February 21, 2009.
3. "Report of Registration as of October 20, 2008: Registration by State Senate District" (PDF). California Secretary of State. October 31, 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 25, 2009. Retrieved February 21, 2009.