In a true display of how “purple” Turlock voters really are, early primary election results have Democrat Adam Gray leading the polls on the west side of town in the newly created U.S. Congressional District 13 race and Republican Tom McClintock leading in the new U.S. Congressional District 5 on the east side.
As of 9:08 p.m. Tuesday, McClintock had 42.4% of the vote in the Congressional District 5 race, followed by Democrat Michael Barkley with 38.6%. Republican Nathan Magsig trailed at 11.1% of the vote.
Gray had 35% of the vote at 9:08 p.m. Tuesday, followed by Republican John Duarte with 29.5%. Democrat Phil Arballo trailed in early results at 20.1%.
The race for the newly created Assembly District 22, which encompasses Turlock along with Modesto, Ceres, Patterson, Newman, Gustine, Hilmar, Snelling and Stevinson, was a close one at 9:20 p.m. Tuesday, with 70.8% of precincts partially reporting. Republican Juan Alanis had a marginal lead with 30.4% of the vote, followed closely by 29.6% of the vote and Democrat Chad Condit not too far behind with 26.4% of the vote.
In the also new State Senate District 4 race, Democrat Tim Robertson was leading in early results with 24.6% of the vote, following by Democrat Marie Alvarado-Gil at 21%. Trailing the Democrats was Republican George Radanovich with 17% of the vote.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom cruised to an easy victory in Tuesday’s primary barely one year after surviving a recall attempt, advancing to the November general election where he will be an overwhelming favorite to defeat a little-known Republican state senator.
Early returns Tuesday showed Newsom receiving just over 60% of the vote. He was far ahead of second-place finisher Brian Dahle, a Republican state lawmaker and farmer from the sparsely populated northeast corner of the state that borders Oregon and Nevada
In the U.S. Senate race, Democratic incumbent Alex Padilla had an equally easy time advancing to a November runoff. He was appointed to the seat by Newsom last year after Kamala Harris resigned to become vice president.
Padilla was on the ballot twice — once to complete the final few months of Harris' term and another in a race for a full six-year term that begins in January.
Early vote totals showed Republican attorney Mark Meuser was second in both races. Meuser's work with the right-leaning Dhillon Law Group has included 22 lawsuits against Newsom claiming he overstepped his authority in imposing coronavirus restrictions.
Turnout in the nation's most populous state was light despite significant frustration by voters over record-high gas prices, rising crime and a homelessness crisis in cities large and small. The Stanislaus County Registrar of Voters Office recorded only 10.62% of registered voters mailing in their ballots or showing up at the polls.
Just one year ago, it looked as if Newsom could be on his way out as more than 1.7 million voters signed a petition to recall him from office. Dozens of Republicans lined up to challenge him in the 2021 recall election, eager to take down the Democratic governor of the nation’s most populous state ahead of the 2022 midterms.
Instead, Newsom defeated the recall in such a decisive way that none of the major contenders from last year filed to challenge him for reelection this year.
“This is almost the definition of a noncompetitive race," said Jessica Levinson, a political commentator and election law professor at Loyola Marymount University.
For the most up-to-date election results, visit: https://electionresults.sos.ca.gov/
— The Associated Press contributed to this report.
