On June 22, California held a special election to fill the vacant State Senate seat in the 15th district. The seat is vacant because former State Senator Abel Maldonado resigned to become Lieutenant Governor.
The vote: Sam Blakeslee, Republican, 64,676, 49.71%; John Laird, Democrat, 53,639, 41.23%; Jim Fitzgerald, independent, 7,936, 6.10%; Mark Hinkle, Libertarian, 3,848, 2.96%.
Because no one polled 50%, there will be a run-off in August. Because California uses blanket primary rules for its special legislative and congressional elections, all four candidates who ran in June 22 will again run in August.
Blakeslee only missed being elected outright on June 22 by 373 votes. It is likely there are still some provisional ballots remaining to be counted.
Seems embarrassing for Mark Hinkle – I think the party should require that their National Chairmen not run for public office while serving in that post.