Wikipedia list article
Special elections to the California State Senate are called by the Governor of California when a vacancy arises within the State Senate . Most special elections are conducted in two rounds. The first is an open primary and the candidate with the most votes must have a majority of the votes plus one to win the seat. If no candidate wins a majority, a second round is held with the two top candidates regardless of party.
Recall elections , the process by which voters petition for the removal of an elected official, are also included.
List of special elections [ ]
The dates listed indicate the time of the final election, either a runoff election or the open primary round if no second round was held.
District
Date
Predecessor
Winner
33
October 3, 1961
James McBride (D )
Robert Lagomarsino (R )
31
February 13, 1962
John Hollister (R )
Alvin Weingand (D )
5
March 16, 1965
Edwin Regan (D )
Fred Marler (R )
9
August 15, 1967
Gene McAteer (D )
Milton Marks (R )
7
March 25, 1969
George Miller (D )
John Nejedly (R )
34
August 18, 1970
John Schmitz (R )
Dennis Carpenter (R )
27
July 20, 1971
George Danielson (D )
David Roberti (D )
36
June 6, 1972
Gordon Cologne (R )
W. Craig Biddle (R )
22
February 27, 1973
Tom Carrell (D )
Alan Robbins (D )
38
March 6, 1973
Clair Burgener (R )
John Stull (R )
20
January 15, 1974
William Coombs (R )
Ruben Ayala (D )
24
July 2, 1974
Robert Lagomarsino (R )
Omer Rains (D )
29
April 1, 1975
Mervyn Dymally (D )
Bill Greene (D )
6
June 8, 1976
George Moscone (D )
John Foran (D )
22
March 8, 1977
Anthony Beilenson (D )
Alan Sieroty (D )
31
April 17, 1979
George Deukmejian (R )
Ollie Speraw (R )
14
June 9, 1979
George Zenovich (D )
Kenneth Maddy (R )
12
June 5, 1980
Jerry Smith (D )
Dan O'Keefe (R )
35
April 13, 1982
John Briggs (R )
John Seymour (R )
33
May 12, 1987
Paul Carpenter (D )
Cecil Green (D )
39
December 5, 1989
Larry Stirling (R )
Lucy Killea (D )
31
April 10, 1990
Bill Campbell (R )
Frank Hill (R )
26
April 10, 1990
Joseph Montoya (D )
Charles Calderon (D )
5
January 8, 1991
John Garamendi (D )
Patrick Johnston (D )
1
May 14, 1991
John Doolittle (R )
Tim Leslie (R )
35
May 14, 1991
John Seymour (R )
John Lewis (R )
20
June 2, 1992
Alan Robbins (D )
David Roberti (D )
32
March 2, 1993
Ed Royce (R )
Rob Hurtt (R )
2
April 27, 1993
Barry Keene (D )
Mike Thompson (D )
16
April 27, 1993
Don Rogers (R )
Phil Wyman (R )
4
November 2, 1993
Mike Thompson (D )
Maurice Johannessen (R )
11
November 2, 1993
Becky Morgan (R )
Tom Campbell (R )
40
December 28, 1993
Wadie Deddeh (D )
Steve Peace (D )
29
November 8, 1994
Frank Hill (R )
Dick Mountjoy (R )
35
May 9, 1995
Marian Bergeson (R )
Ross Johnson (R )
11
March 26, 1996
Tom Campbell (R )
Byron Sher (D )
9
September 1, 1998
Barbara Lee (D )
Don Perata (D )
32
March 7, 2000
Joe Baca (D )
Nell Soto (D )
24
March 6, 2001
Hilda Solis (D )
Gloria Romero (D )
35
June 6, 2006
John Campbell (R )
Tom Harman (R )
26
May 19, 2009
Mark Ridley-Thomas (D )
Curren Price (D )
37
June 8, 2010
John Benoit (R )
Bill Emmerson (R )
15
August 17, 2010
Abel Maldonado (R )
Sam Blakeslee (R )
1
January 4, 2011
Dave Cox (R )
Ted Gaines (R )
17
February 15, 2011
George Runner (R )
Sharon Runner (R )
28
February 15, 2011
Jenny Oropeza (D )
Ted Lieu (D )
4
January 8, 2013
Doug LaMalfa (R )
Jim Nielsen (R )
40
March 2, 2013
Juan Vargas (D )
Ben Hueso (D )
32
May 14, 2013
Gloria Negrete McLeod (D )
Norma Torres (D )
16
July 23, 2013
Michael Rubio (D )
Andy Vidak (R )
26
September 17, 2013
Curren Price (D )
Holly Mitchell (D )
23
March 25, 2014
Bill Emmerson (R )
Mike Morrell (R )
35
December 9, 2014
Rod Wright (D )
Isadore Hall, III (D )
21
March 17, 2015
Steve Knight (R )
Sharon Runner (R )
37
March 17, 2015
Mimi Walters (R )
John Moorlach (R )
7
May 19, 2015
Mark DeSaulnier (D )
Steve Glazer (D )
32
August 7, 2018
Tony Mendoza (D )
Vanessa Delgado (D )
1
June 4, 2019
Ted Gaines (R )
Brian Dahle (R )
33
June 4, 2019
Ricardo Lara (D )
Lena Gonzalez (D )
28
May 12, 2020
Jeff Stone (R )
Melissa Melendez (R )
30
March 2, 2021
Holly Mitchell (D )
Sydney Kamlager (D )
List of recall elections [ ]
When applicable, the candidate who succeeded the recalled state senator is listed. If the recall election was not successful the winner is listed as "none".
District
Date
Recall target
Replacement
20
April 12, 1994
David Roberti (D )
Not applicable, recall failed
12
June 3, 2008
Jeff Denham (R )
Not applicable, recall failed
29
June 5, 2018
Josh Newman (D )
Ling Ling Chang (R )
Results [ ]
2014 35th district special election [ ]
2014 California's 35th State Senate district special election Vacancy resulting from the resignation of Rod Wright
Primary election
Party
Candidate
Votes
%
Democratic
Isadore Hall, III
17,951
55.9
Republican
James Spencer
8,014
25.0
Democratic
Louis L. Dominguez
4,067
12.7
Democratic
Hector Serrano
2,069
6.4
Total votes
32,101
100.0
Democratic hold
2015 7th district special election [ ]
2015 California's 7th State Senate district special election Vacancy resulting from the resignation of Mark DeSaulnier
Primary election
Party
Candidate
Votes
%
Democratic
Steve Glazer
38,411
33.7
Democratic
Susan Bonilla
28,389
24.9
Democratic
Joan Buchanan
25,534
22.4
Republican
Michaela M. Hertle (withdrawn)
18,281
16.1
Democratic
Terry Kremin
3,242
2.8
Total votes
113,857
100.0
General election
Democratic
Steve Glazer
68,996
54.5
Democratic
Susan Bonilla
57,491
45.5
Total votes
126,487
100.0
Democratic hold
2015 21st district special election [ ]
2015 California's 21st State Senate district special election Vacancy resulting from the resignation of Steve Knight
Primary election
Party
Candidate
Votes
%
Republican
Sharon Runner
26,360
94.1
Democratic
Steve Hill (write-in )
996
3.6
Democratic
Joshua Conaway (write-in )
252
0.9
Republican
Jerry J. Laws (write-in )
120
0.4
No party preference
Joshua C. Chandler (write-in )
108
0.4
Democratic
Richard E. Macias (write-in )
91
0.3
No party preference
Jason Zink (write-in )
90
0.3
Total votes
28,017
100.0
Republican hold
2015 37th district special election [ ]
2015 California's 37th State Senate district special election Vacancy resulting from the resignation of Mimi Walters
Primary election
Party
Candidate
Votes
%
Republican
John Moorlach
38,125
50.3
Republican
Don Wagner
33,411
44.0
Republican
Naz Namazi
2,621
3.5
Democratic
Louise Stewardson (write-in )
1,696
2.2
Total votes
75,853
100.0
Republican hold
2018 29th district special recall election [ ]
2018 32nd district special election [ ]
The first round of the special election was consolidated with the regularly scheduled primary election . Although most of the candidates in the two contests were the same, the results were very different. Rita Topalian finished first in both races, but different candidates finished in second place. Vanessa Delgado finished in 2nd place in the special election, but 3rd place in the regularly scheduled primary election. She received a similar number of votes in both races, but candidate Bob Archuleta received about 54% more votes in the regularly scheduled election than he did in the special election. The different results have been attributed to the different order in which the candidates were listed on the ballot.[1]
2018 California's 32nd State Senate district special election Vacancy resulting from the resignation of Tony Mendoza
Primary election
Party
Candidate
Votes
%
Republican
Rita Topalian
29,135
25.0
Democratic
Vanessa Delgado
18,898
16.2
Democratic
Tony Mendoza
16,779
14.4
Democratic
Bob Archuleta
13,593
11.7
Republican
Ion Sarega
10,720
9.2
Democratic
Vicky Santana
7,960
6.8
Democratic
Ali S. Taj
6,961
6.0
Democratic
Vivian Romero
5,379
4.6
Democratic
Rudy Bermudez
5,117
4.4
Democratic
John Paul Drayer
1,294
1.1
Democratic
Darren Joseph Gendron
599
0.5
Total votes
116,435
100.0
General election
Democratic
Vanessa Delgado
26,635
52.4
Republican
Rita Topalian
24,240
47.6
Total votes
50,875
100.0
Democratic hold
2019 1st district special election [ ]
2019 California's 1st State Senate district special election Vacancy resulting from the resignation of Ted Gaines [2]
Primary election
Party
Candidate
Votes
%
Republican
Brian Dahle
57,725
29.6
Republican
Kevin Kiley
54,290
27.9
Democratic
Silke Pflueger
49,164
25.2
Republican
Rex Hime
18,050
9.3
Democratic
Steve Baird
10,855
5.6
Republican
Theodore Dziuba
4,672
2.4
Total votes
194,756
100.0
General election
Republican
Brian Dahle
84,503
53.9
Republican
Kevin Kiley
72,169
46.1
Total votes
156,672
100.0
Republican hold
2019 33rd district special election [ ]
2019 California's 33rd State Senate district special election Vacancy resulting from the resignation of Ricardo Lara [3]
Primary election
Party
Candidate
Votes
%
Democratic
Lena Gonzalez
10,984
31.6
Republican
Jack M. Guerrero
4,860
14.0
Democratic
Ali Saleh
3,334
9.6
Democratic
Ana Maria Quintana
3,038
8.8
Democratic
José Luis Solache
2,594
7.5
Democratic
Denise Diaz
2,404
6.9
Republican
Martha Flores Gibson
2,225
6.4
Democratic
Leticia Vasquez Wilson
1,839
5.3
Democratic
Al Austin, II
1,356
3.9
Democratic
Thomas Jefferson Cares
824
2.4
Democratic
Chris Garcia
720
2.1
Green
Cesar Flores
529
1.5
Total votes
34,711
100.0
General election
Democratic
Lena Gonzalez
32,394
69.8
Republican
Jack M. Guerrero
14,049
30.2
Total votes
46,443
100.0
Democratic hold
2020 28th district special election [ ]
2020 California's 28th State Senate district special election Vacancy resulting from the resignation of Jeff Stone
Primary election
Party
Candidate
Votes
%
Republican
Melissa Melendez
81,918
40.5
Democratic
Elizabeth Romero
47,516
23.5
Democratic
Joy Silver
42,222
20.9
Republican
John Schwab
24,536
12.1
Democratic
Anna Nevenic
5,912
2.9
Total votes
202,104
100.0
General election
Republican
Melissa Melendez
105,525
55.4
Democratic
Elizabeth Romero
84,902
45.6
Total votes
190,427
100.0
Republican hold
2021 30th district special election [ ]
2021 California's 30th State Senate district special election Vacancy resulting from the resignation of Holly Mitchell [4] [5]
Primary election
Party
Candidate
Votes
%
Democratic
Sydney Kamlager
48,483
68.7
Democratic
Daniel Lee
9,458
13.4
Republican
Joe Lisuzzo
4,412
6.3
Democratic
Cheryl C. Turner
3,799
5.4
Republican
Tiffani Jones
1,604
2.3
Peace and Freedom
Ernesto Alexander Huerta
1,570
2.2
No party preference
Renita Duncan
1,244
1.8
Total votes
70,577
100.0
Democratic hold
References [ ]
^ Myers, John (June 9, 2018). "Los Angeles voters picked different candidates for the same job" . Los Angeles Times .
^ "CANDIDATES FOR MARCH 26, 2019, SPECIAL PRIMARY ELECTION" (PDF) . California Secretary of State. February 1, 2019. Retrieved February 2, 2019 .
^ "CANDIDATES FOR MARCH 26, 2019, SPECIAL PRIMARY ELECTION" (PDF) . California Secretary of State. February 1, 2019. Retrieved February 2, 2019 .
^ "CANDIDATES FOR MARCH 2, 2021, SPECIAL PRIMARY ELECTION" (PDF) . California Secretary of State.
^ "State Senate District 30 - Districtwide Results" . California Secretary of State. Retrieved March 3, 2021 .