Democrats sweep California, elect state's first female Attorney General

[ProSense]

McNerney wins; only one more House race still outstanding

Three-term Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.) won his tough reelection race against Republican David Harmer.

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It was the last race in California to be called. Rep. Jerry Costa's (D-Calif.) outstanding race was called Tuesday.

Although Republicans picked up 63 seats this election cycle, no California seat changed hands.

Kamala Harris wins: 1st female attorney general

San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris made history Wednesday, becoming the first woman, the first African American and first Indian American in California history to be elected state attorney general.

Congratulations to Kamala Harris, California’s New Attorney General

On behalf of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party, I congratulate Attorney General-Elect Kamala Harris for her victory. As of today, she leads Republican Steve Cooley by 51,585 votes statewide and she has widened her lead in Los Angeles County significantly by 312,925 votes. Clearly, Los Angeles County voters made the difference in Kamala's victory.

The Los Angeles County Democratic Party focused on energizing and mobilizing Democratic voters through the campaign season. LACDP has been engaged in observing the vote count process with the Harris campaign and allied groups since Election Night to make sure that every vote is counted as cast. We left no stone unturned and no voter behind - especially when it came to turning out Democratic voters in Republican areas - because every single vote counts in a close race like this one.

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New Study Shows California Turnout in 2010 Election Bucked the National Trend

WASHINGTON, Nov. 24, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Nationwide, the 2010 midterm election experienced unusually high participation from older and wealthier voters who strongly favored Republican candidates. However, according to an analysis released today by the national voting rights group Project Vote, strong turnout in California, especially among minorities, helped propel the Democratic Party into a highly contested U.S. Senate seat and a sweep of the top offices in the state.

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Great stuff.

[flamingdem]

1. Hooray for Kamala Harris, now it's a clean sweep for Dems nt

[Go2Peace]

22. This proves that a populist left/progressive message is what will work!!!!

California is the perfect state to demonstrate it. Jerry Brown's election, a very bold left progressive set the tone, and most of the others ran on serious challenge and populist rhetoric.

The same thing would work on the national stage if only we would believe in our own values.

[flamingdem]

31. CA could be a model to other states, I think this will be the goal anyway nt

[YvonneCa]

35. It surely seems worth trying, doesn't it? n/t

[NBachers]

2. Okay- Now I can breathe a sigh of relief; believe it or not this is something I'm thankful for today

[Kind of Blue]

3. I love this state! Thankful to you for posting, Prosense.

KnR :patriot: :kick: :dem: :toast:

[loudsue]

4. That's why Idon't understand how the legalization of marijuana failed.

Californians seem to be a pretty smart bunch. :shrug:

[musiclawyer]

6. Prop 19 was leading until holder opened his trap

He scared just enough undecideds who have little brain matter In a way I think the big players who sat it out looked at 19 as a test run. Hell someone else was paying for it. Some mistakes became evident and won't be repeated. It WILL pass in '12. And this is where the AG comes in. She won't fuck with it. The republican would have. Bud is virtually legal now anyway. Just an infraction. Go to any outdoor sporting event in CA next year. The cops won't have enough time to ticket 20,000 people openly smoking or vaporizing. Just a matter of time

[JI7]

11. while many in California as Dem leaning they arne't very liberal, many are fearful of the Right Wing

so you would see many support someone they thought was too liberal for them over anyone they thought could be right of center.

but if someone can convince them they are moderate like Arnold then they would vote for them.

this is why many issue specific proposition votes don't line up with the liberal view. but Dem candidates are usually able to win.

[YvonneCa]

5. Now the question to answer, for Californians, is WHY. Why was the turnout...

...so different than the national trends?

From the article: "The trends in voting and partisanship are noteworthy because they are in the opposite direction of what we see nationally in this election. The tide was with liberal Democrats who prevailed over conservative and, in some cases, Tea Party-backed Republicans – often with substantial margins of victory."

As a lifelong Californian, I have these questions:

1. Did Latinos turn out in large numbers and vote for Dems because the GOP (Fiorina and Whitman) continue to trash Comprehensive Immigration Reform and spout RW, offensive rhetoric on the subject constantly? I think so.

2. Did Dems turn out in larger numbers in California...as opposed to nationally...because Whitman invested 160 MILLION DOLLARS of her own money? I think so...many were upset that she appeared to be buying the office.

3. Did California have higher Democratic participation because many younger and other voters felt strongly about legalizing marijuana (Prop 19)? I'd guess they did. The young folks I know were VERY energized. :)

4. Did PROP 23 (to undo California's pro-green energy policy which Dems WANT) bring in more Democratic voters?

5. How did educators vote? Did they support Democrats or Republicans, because of Obama's education reform policy?

6. What were the percentages of union versus non-union voters? Did they turn out or not?

I think the answers to these questions are critical. I speculate that these factors were the reason California was different in 2010. There are lessons to be learned here, and I hope Dems learn them before 2012.

Thanks, Prosense, for posting this artical and report. :hi:

[Kind of Blue]

7. Good Questions!

:hi: I haven't checked out everyone of these post-election polling data yet, but I think that it may answer some or all of your questions.
https://college.usc.edu/usc-college-los-angeles-times-poll/

First 5 in the right-hand column are the post-election info.
Thanks for the reminder to get back to these results.

[YvonneCa]

14. Thank you, fellow San Diegan! And thanks for...

...the link. :)

[Kind of Blue]

19. Hey, Neighbor! I hope you had a good

Thanksgiving :)the off

[YvonneCa]

25. Thank you. I hope you had a great ...

...Thanksgiving, too. :)

[lunatica]

8. There are reasons why people turned out against the Republicans too

Arnold put the state through severe furlough cuts to our salaries and closed down parks and eliminated social services for women and children and yet refused to raise taxes on corporations or the wealthy. I, as an employee of UC Berkeley have furlough pay taken out of my salary still since my union negotiated to have a certain amount taken out over a twelve month period rather than have most of it taken out all at once during the 9 day Christmas break and the Spring Break.

Whole towns and small cities in central California have been turned into virtual ghost towns as the economy crashed. While the unemployment rate for the country is 9.6%, the unemployment rate in California is 12.8%. California is the third highest state in unemployment after Nevada and Michigan.

Californians kept the Democrats like Barbara Boxer and Barbara Lee because they're good for California and they voted for Jerry Brown because he's a well known public servant.

When Democrats win elections like this it's always because Democratic voters come out in force. The only time Democrats lose in California is when the Democratic voters don't go to the booths. This time there were excellent reasons to go out and vote.

[YvonneCa]

12. I completely agree. Thanks for...

...your post.

[Kind of Blue]

20. Absolutely agree!

I love that very effective Boxer ad against Fiorina, with a few of the thougsandths she laid off at Hewlett Packard, showing her stepping into her limousine and telling of her astronomical raise. Besides her long list of offensive comments and actions, Meg Whitless's last ad inadvertently praising Brown for the years of prosperity as her reason to live here was the final blow in her expensively dumb campaign.

Such good reasons to vote when your opponents are scary idiots like Fiorina, Whitman, Angle and O'Donnell.

[Go2Peace]

23. And because the candidates offered a clearly defined message

I believe a lot of the turnout and tone was due to the governor's race, which was led by an unapologetic "left" populist. California is a swing state with a lot of Republican talk on the radio. This should tell us something.

We should be doing the same thing nationally instead of trying to become "republican light". Bold progressive messaging works when we are unapologetic and get the message out well.

[YvonneCa]

26. I think you are right about doing the same thing...

...nationally. I really hope our Dem leaders are watching California. ;)

[krabigirl]

10. All of those things, and also, because the GOP had horrible, horrible candidates.

Ones like Ahnuld win here, ones like Fiorina do not.

[YvonneCa]

13. That is true. n/t

[xxqqqzme]

17. As far as #5 is concerned

Educators, I know, voted for Torlakson because he opposes duncan's privatization of public education. Torlakson was elected w/ 54.7% of the vote.

[YvonneCa]

27. He and Aceves were up against Gloria Romero...

...in the June primary. Romero was THE Obama/Duncan reform candidate, who lead the state legislature to pass legislation to evaluate teachers based on student test scores AND to raise the cap on the number of charter schools statewide. She came in THIRD. (YAaaay!!! :) ) Torlakson had the endorsement of the CTA. He and Aceves BOTH debated several times and both did well.

[Retrograde]

21. Because the Sec. of State makes it easy to vote?

It's easy to register to vote in this state: I got a registration form with my driver's license renewal, there are forms at the local library and post office. In my county you can even download the registration form!

Once you're registered you get a voter's guide and sample ballot before the election so you don't have to be surprised at the polls. If you don't want to go to the polling place you can request a mail-in ballot, either for one election or on a regular basis, no reason needed. (The SoS had an ulterior motive in implementing this: we didn't have to buy as many voting machines.) You can vote at your leisure and after studying the issues. If you want the full voting experience you can take your filled-on ballot to any polling station in the county.

IMHO, the ease of voting, in addition to getting better turnout, makes it harder to cage or challenge voters like we've seen in some states.

And for this election, I think people just got tired of hearing Whitman's voice and couldn't wait to shut her up :)

[YvonneCa]

29. As to the ease of voting, we have SOS Debra Bowen to thank...

...for that. She was well aware of 'irregularities' in other states (like, for example, Ohio in 2004). ;)

And I agree with Whitman's voice as an irritant...I couldn't stand hearing her after about the first two weeks! :7

[CreekDog]

24. I was stunned at the turnout here, I've never seen such a long line

I'm in the SF suburbs, in probably one of the most diverse precincts in the nation (in San Mateo County)

on election night, i went to turn in my absentee ballot (i often drop it off on Election Day). the parking lot was full, the street parking was completely taken and the line ran all the way through the fire station down the driveway and onto the sidewalk (and it was not single file). it was moving, people were in good spirits

-and there weren't too many white people in that line.

the Republican message these days is pretty clear to me: we don't like you if you're different. we don't like anything that's different than we are. we named some groups we don't like last year, and we named some more groups and things we don't like this year. soon, we'll get to your group.

i wonder if that motivated the voting at all?

(our voting district gave Obama 80% of the vote in 2008)

[YvonneCa]

32. California is a very diverse state. Many of us see our diversity as a ...

...strength.

I believe what President Clinton used to say about us having differences, but that our common humanity matters more than those things that divide us(paraphrased). The GOP is all about dividing us for political gain.

That doesn't play in California...thank goodness. :)

[political_Dem]

9. Good news on a day to be thankful.

I'm especially thrilled Kamala Harris won.

[AspenRose]

15. Me too

and I'm not in CA

I see her progressing to the national stage, politically.

[Kdillard]

16. Good news but the comments on Kamala Harris are awful.

[Raine]

18. I LOVE my state!

:applause:

[YvonneCa]

33. Me too. n/t

[old mark]

28. Sadly, the 'Publicans sweep Pennsylvania, elect moral degenerate bastard

RW trash...I'm happy for California, but I live here in GOP land...:(


mark

[YvonneCa]

34. FWIW...

...I have put myself in your shoes and it feels awful. I am sorry, old mark, that it was so depressing for you and many others. I do hope Dems are learning the lessons now, and that 2012 will reflect that. We hopemongers have to keep working for that. :grouphug:

[old mark]

36. First, my county voted strongly Democratic, which means the 'publicans

will take every means to screw us over when they take office - they have done it before and I expect no less from them now...

Second, please get the hell out of my shoes...;)

(Old saying: Walk a mile in another man's shoes, and you will be a mile away ...and have his shoes!)

I expect good things from California, and nothing good here for the next 4 to 8 years.

mark

[YvonneCa]

37. Only borrowed your shoes...

...for a minute... :7

[old mark]

38. Well, that's OK, then - I had to go out back to feed the birds, and it's

too cold to go without shoes...

mark

[ccharles000]

30. ..

awesome k/r