[Update 6/8, 5 p.m.]
State Senate District 27 final:
- Steve Fazio (R): 37.5%
- Henry Stern (D): 26.5%
- Janice Kamenir-Reznik (D): 19.7%
Fazio and Stern will face off in November.
Democratic Presidential Primary final:
- Hillary Clinton: 55.8%
- Bernie Sanders: 43.2%
After endless months of just standing around as spectators, Californians are finally going have a say in this presidential primary, although sadly, it may not count for much. According to the vote counters, both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have achieved enough delegates to win their party’s nomination, barring any last-minute mass defections.
Unlike elections in the past, this primary election is being run by the County of Los Angeles, which unfortunately means it may be hours after the polls close before we have any significant vote counts. The web addresses for the Secretary of State’s office and the LA County Registrar of Voters are provided above. Both of the sites update election information constantly as information flows in.
To vote in the Republican primary, you have to be a registered Republican, and neither Democrats nor independents can vote in the Republican primary, which is different than the Democratic primary. Because California is a very blue state, Trump is not going to win in California, which might have implications for the down-ticket Republican candidates. Since there is no contest for the top of the Republican ticket, their turnout might be low and there may be races where two Democrats end up in the runoff, as might be the case in our local race for the State Senate.
But first, the more exciting race: Bernie Sanders vs. Clinton — the young against the old, the left against the left center, the older woman against the younger woman.This race has split the Democratic party in half. The question is, will they all come back after the primary is over or will many just drop out in disgust? Polling seems to say that it is very close, but there are a few recent things that may change that.Â
For one, Trump seems to be getting scarier and possibly out of control; before, where some Democrats might have voted for Sanders just to send a message, some are rethinking that as the seriousness of the choices becomes clear.
It is difficult to get a really good take on Trump. He’s unquestionably boorish and often a bully, but he’s giving voice to what a lot of people feel — they’ve been dealt out of the American dream with little prospect that it is going to change in the future. At times, it appears that he’s just an actor playing to his audience, but the real question is, what is the size of that audience, and could it really take the presidency?
His most recent attack on the Indiana-born judge hearing the Trump University case has cost him dearly among the Republican leadership who have endorsed him but now don’t want to get too close. Still, is this a calculated strategy, which might work politically, or is he just an out-of-control narcissist and anyone who opposes him is automatically prejudiced, unfair, incompetent and a Mexican? Is Trump just a human being who is pugnacious and never backs down — which in some ways is admirable — or is he someone so totally self-absorbed that he can never admit that he made a mistake? Going up against this particular Federal District Court Judge was a very big mistake, but is he incapable of backing off the charges?
On the local level, we have the battle for our State Senate seat being vacated by Senator Fran Pavley, who is termed out. There are four Democrats and one Republican in the race. Normally that would mean that the four Democrats would split the vote in the primary, and you could expect the Republican to take the primary and end up in the general election in November running against one of the Democrats. Our Senate District, the 27th, is pretty much evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. The Santa Clarita area is more Republican and, in fact, elected a Republican assemblymember two years ago. The other part of the district is the Valley and West Side, which tends Democratic and elected a Democratic Assemblyman. Part of the district is in Ventura County and although Fran Pavley won it all last time, she only got 53.6 percent of the vote to the Republicans 46.4 percent, which is not a particularly big number for a longtime incumbent. Clearly, district lines were changed, and this is now a closed district so the turnout is crucial to the Republican senatorial candidate Steve Fazio. It is unclear if and how the Democratic race for president will impact our down ticket senatorial race.
By the time this newspaper comes out, we should know some of those answers.