Filing for California’s June 2014 primary has closed. In the 31st U.S. House district, there are again two Republicans running, and four Democrats running. The district is strongly Democratic. In November 2012, Mitt Romney only received 41% of the vote for President inside this district, and the Republican running for U.S. Senate, Elizabeth Emken, also only received 41% inside the district. But the November 2012 ballot gave voters only two Republicans to vote for, with no write-in space. This is because in June 2012, four Democrats running for this seat had split up the Democratic vote, so that the two Republicans placed first and second.
This year, the four Democrats running are Pete Aguilar, Eloise Gomez Reyes, Danny Tillman, and former Congressman Joe Baca. The two Republicans are Paul Chabot and Lesli Gooch. Both are considered strong contenders. Chabot is a former White House official and a retired Navy officer who is endorsed by former Republican Congressman Jerry Lewis. Gooch is the outgoing Congressman’s Senior Policy Director, and is endorsed by that outgoing member, Congressman Gary Miller. A third Republican, San Bernardino City Councilmember John Valdivia, had taken out papers to run, but then decided not to run.
Must be great fun and games in sunny CA – when it is not having floods, fires and earthquakes.
Which gerrymander gang can have the most candidates to DIVIDE AND CONQUER the other gerrymander gang — in each rigged gerrymander pack/crack district ???
How many math MORON delusional *reformers* in CA on drugs, etc. ???
—-
End the ROT.
P.R. and nonpartisan App.V. — NO moron primaries.
Ground zero of the most anti-voter electoral arrangement ever introduced in our lives. if only those who write and push catchy pop tunes could help more people understand something is really wrong here.
How big of an issue will this ongoing malrepresentative phenomenon be through the voting periods?
In June 2014 a majority of voters voted for Republican candidates. They received 5000 more votes than voted for all the Republican presidential candidates combined.
Why is Jpe Baca a former congressman?
The June 2012 primary had the worst turnout in California history for a statewide primary (except for the strange June 2008 primary which had no statewide offices on the ballot). Only 31.06% of the registered voters voted in June 2012, and they were disproportionately Republican, because Republicans wanted to vote in the presidential primary, whereas Democrats’ presidential primary was utterly boring, with only President Obama on the ballot.
Turnout has been declining for decades. California’s voting rolls have tons of deadwood.
Orange County has 23% inactive voters (have not voted in last four years, including the 2010 and 2012 general elections); and that was after the 2013 purge where they actively contacted voters whose mail was being forwarded out of the county.
San Diego County says 50% of its rolls are inactive, and no other county even bothers.
Joe Baca was defeated in the 2012 general election.
You say turnout has been declining, without mentioning that the February 2008 primary had a turnout of 57.7%.
You mention the turnout for the presidential primary in February 2008, without mentioning that 14.4% of voters did not cast a presidential preference under the closed primary system.