Gov. Brown, Neel Kashkari advance in Calif. governor’s race

[UPDATED at 2:25 p.m. Current California Gov. Jerry Brown cruised to a first-place finish Tuesday in this year’s statewide primary election.

With all precincts partially reported at about 3 a.m. Wednesday, Brown received about 55 percent of the vote. Gubernatorial candidate Neel Kashkari received about 19 percent of the vote and Tim Donnelly received about 15 percent of the vote. Late Tuesday night, Donnelly withdrew from the race.

Brown and Kashkari will now move on to the general election on Nov. 4.

About 13 percent of eligible registered voters in Los Angeles County cast their ballots, according to a press release from the county’s registrar-recorder/county clerk office. Los Angeles County turnout for the 2010 primary election was about 23 percent.

Following the election Tuesday night, Brown said he thinks Californians showed they think the state should be cautious in the way it manages money.

“At this point, I am ready to tackle problems not on a partisan basis but on a long-term basis of building California and making sure we are ready for the future,” Brown said Tuesday.

In a statement released early Wednesday morning, Kashkari said he thinks Republican voters must come together to change Sacramento. He then criticized Brown, saying he thinks Brown’s policies have driven businesses out of the state.

Kashkari, a former U.S. Treasury officer who oversaw the $700 billion federal Troubled Asset Relief Program in 2008 and 2009, and Donnelly, a former state assemblyman from Twin Peaks, are both Republicans.

Because Donnelly generally takes more conservative stances than Kashkari on social issues such as immigration and gun control, the primary is seen by some political watchers as a race that reflected the direction in which California Republican voters are headed.

In the general election, Brown is widely expected to beat the other candidate because of his high approval numbers. If Brown wins in the general election, he will be elected for a record fourth term as the governor of California. Brown served two terms as governor from 1975 to 1983 and is currently serving his third term, for which he was elected in 2010.

The two candidates with the greatest number of votes for each office will move on to the general election.

For the 33rd Congressional District, which covers Westwood, Elan Carr, a former gang prosecutor running as a Republican, clinched a spot in the general election with about 22 percent of votes Wednesday.

“We may not have had the resources our opponents had, but we had … a strong conviction to confront Washington’s broken status-quo,” Carr said in the press release Wednesday.

Ted Lieu, the current state senator for the 28th Senate District, which also covers Westwood, won the second spot in the race with 19 percent of votes.

Although Carr finished first, the district is heavily Democratic, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report and voter registration numbers for 2013. About 44 percent of registered voters in the district are Democrat, while 27 percent of voters are Republican. Because of this, some predict Lieu will win the general election even though he finished second in the primary.

Wendy Greuel, who finished second in the election for Los Angeles mayor in 2013, finished in third place with about 17 percent of the vote. Marianne Williamson, an independent candidate and a best-selling author, finished fourth with about 13 percent of the vote.

For the 26th State Senate District, Ben Allen, a former UC student regent and a current lecturer at the UCLA School of Law, advanced to the general election with about 22 percent of the vote. Sandra Fluke finished in second place, with about 20 percent of the vote, also advancing to the general election. Fluke is a Democratic attorney who gained nationwide fame when she appeared in Congress as a Georgetown University law student to testify about why her Catholic university should be required to cover contraceptives in the health care coverage it offered.

Seth Stodder, an independent lawyer, finished third with about 18 percent of the vote. Betsy Butler, a former state assemblywoman, and Amy Howorth, Manhattan Beach mayor, finished fourth and fifth respectively.

For the 54th district state assembly race, incumbent Sebastian Ridley-Thomas, a Democrat elected in a special election in December, won about 78 percent of the vote. Glen Ratcliff, a Republican, won about 22 percent of the vote. The candidates will face each other again in November.

Two propositions proposed by the legislature also passed Tuesday night. Proposition 41, which passed with about 65 percent of the vote, will authorize $600 million in general bonds for veteran housing. Proposition 42, which passed with about 62 percent of the vote, will change the California constitution to require local government agencies to comply with state laws on public information, such as the California Public Records Act.

Kamala Harris, incumbent attorney general running as a Democrat, won a spot in the general election with about 53 percent of the vote.

Gavin Newsom, a former Democratic mayor of San Francisco and incumbent lieutenant governor running for the same position, won a spot in the general election with about 50 percent of the vote. The lieutenant governor serves as the president of the state Senate and as acting governor in the absence of the governor.

Tom Torlakson, current incumbent superintendent of public instruction, won a spot in the general election with about 47 percent of the vote.

Both Newsom and Torlakson are ex-officio members of the UC Board of Regents.

In the race to replace Zev Yaroslavsky for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisor’s 3rd district, which covers Westwood, Sheila Kuehl, a former state senator, finished first. Bobby Shriver, a former mayor of Santa Monica and former brother-in-law to Arnold Schwarzenegger, finished second and will advance to the general election as well.]