Early returns from Tuesday's California primary election showed Santa Monica-connected candidates struggling across multiple statewide and legislative contests, signaling a potentially significant diminishment of the city's political influence in Sacramento.
With early results representing an initial bulletin of vote-by-mail and vote center ballots, four candidates with deep ties to Santa Monica were each behind the frontrunners..
Former Santa Monica Mayor Tony Vasquez finished a distant fifth in the Democratic primary for State Treasurer, drawing 85,479 votes — 9.73% — in a field led by Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis with 36.12%. Only the top two vote-getters advance to the November general election; Vasquez trailed both the frontrunner and Republican Jennifer Hawks in second place.
Green Party leader and longtime Santa Monica activist Mike Feinstein fared no better in the Secretary of State race, collecting 24,586 votes — 2.79% — far behind incumbent Democratic Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber, who led with 62.22%.
State Sen. Ben Allen, whose district includes Santa Monica, entered a crowded Insurance Commissioner field seeking to advance to November and was the lone bright spot as he found himself in second place in a top 2 primary. Allen trailed frontrunner Jane Kim, a Democrat, 27.22% to 23.20%, with Republicans and other Democrats splitting the remaining votes.
In the hotly contested Senate District 24 primary, Sion Roy — a Democrat aligned with Santa Monica's progressive political infrastructure — ran fifth in a 10-candidate field with 18,861 votes, or 13.08%. Republican G. Rick Marshall led with 19.86%, followed closely by Democrat Brian Goldsmith at 19.61%, Republican Kristina Irwin at 16.17%, and Democrat John M. Erickson at 16.19%. Roy's showing put him well outside the top two positions needed to advance.
The results reflected a low-turnout environment statewide: just 16.60% of Los Angeles County's 5.89 million registered voters had cast ballots as of the initial count, with 851,501 of those — 87.08% — arriving as vote-by-mail ballots. Hundreds of thousands of additional ballots remained uncounted, and officials cautioned that results would continue to update in the days ahead.
All results remain unofficial. Los Angeles County accepts vote-by-mail ballots postmarked by Election Day for up to seven days, meaning final totals could shift substantially before certification.