On April 27, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger set August 17 as the date of the special election to fill the vacant State Senate seat, 15th district. He also set a special primary for June 22. The seat is vacant because Senator Abel Maldonado has resigned from the Senate and is now California’s Lieutenant Governor.

California uses the blanket primary system for special elections. It is technically possible that on June 22, a candidate might get as much as 50% of the vote. If that happened, there would be no election on August 17. Democrats have already informally united around John Laird’s candidacy.