- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Election 2018: State, federal incumbents get easy primary victories
With 717 of 963 precincts reporting early Wednesday, the results showed that State Sen. Mike McGuire won the primary race over fellow Democrat Veronica Jacobi.
McGuire’s preliminary count was 81,367 ballots, or 75.9 percent of the vote, compared to Jacobi’s 25,892 ballots, or 24.1 percent of the vote.
“Serving as state senator has been the honor of my life,” McGuire said Tuesday night. “I am so grateful to have this opportunity to work day in and day out on behalf of the hard working folks of the North Coast and I can’t say thank you enough to those who have brought us this far.”
He added, “Tomorrow, we’ll be back to work and focused on making even more investments in our kids and public schools, rebuilding stronger from the devastating fire storm, protecting our coast and environment, creating family-sustaining jobs and, together, stopping the Trump administration from reversing years of progress here in the Golden State.”
McGuire, still in his first term, now advances to the Nov. 6 general election.
Lake County’s member of the state Assembly, Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, a Democrat from Winters, is running for her second term uncontested.
She has received 100 percent of the vote so far, with 39,232 votes cast for her. As of early Wednesday, 89.9 percent of precincts – 441 out of 457 – had reported in her race, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.
That conflicts with the preliminary Lake County election tally, which showed Aguiar-Curry with 5,290 votes, or 94.1 percent, with 330 write-in ballots, accounting for 5.9 percent of the vote.
Lake County’s two members of the House of Representatives also appear headed for clear reelection victories.
With 90 percent of precinct reporting, Congressman Mike Thompson, a Democrat from St. Helena who represents the southern half of Lake County, received 79.1 percent of the vote with 66,621 ballots cast for him.
Challenging Thompson in the primary were Anthony Mills, no party preference, 7,843 ballots or 9.3 percent; Nils Palsson, no party preference, 6,884 ballots or 8.2 percent; and Green Party member Jason Kishineff, who received 2,887 votes, or 3.4 percent, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.
Democrat John Garamendi, who represents the northern portion of Lake County, received 53 percent of the vote, or 46,305 ballots cast in his favor, with 90 percent – 414 of 430 – precincts reporting, according to the Secretary of State’s Office’s preliminary count.
Garamendi’s challengers in the primary were Republican Charlie Schaupp and Democrat Kevin Puett.
The preliminary count showed that Schaupp received 37,466 votes, or 42.9 percent, while Puett received 3,662 votes, or 4.2 percent.
With 90 percent of precincts reporting, US Sen. Dianne Feinstein appears headed for a decisive primary victory, receiving 44 percent of the vote in a field crowded with challengers, including several from her own Democratic Party.
One of those challengers, Democrat Kevin De Leon, got the second-highest vote count, with 11.30 percent, according to the early count.
Like the other races, Feinstein’s will continue until the fall general election.
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