Along with the defeat of Proposition 16, one of the best outcomes of Tuesday’s election was the passage of Proposition 14, which offers some hope that the state Legislature will move away from being dominated by the extremes.
It won’t be taking effect until the next primary two years from now. But how would the fall races break down if the measure was in effect today? The fact is, there would be no difference.
The race for the 7th Assembly District would still likely feature Michael Allen vs. Doris Gentry. Right now, Allen is leading Michael Wilson by 500 votes in the race for the Democratic nomination. If that lead holds, he would take on Gentry who ran unopposed in the race for the Republican nomination. Gentry has about 15,500 votes while Allen has 13,600.
Gentry lost to incumbent Noreen Evans by a margin of 72 percent to 28 percent two years ago. It’s possible that if all the candidates had been pooled together Tuesday, as will be the case going forward, Allen and Wilson would emerge in a run-off. But that’s just speculation. It’s likely that an Allen-Wilson runoff would be more competitive as this district hasn’t elected a Republican since Bev Hanson was first voted into office in 1986. On top of that, the district was redrawn after the 1991 reapportionment, making it decidedly more Democratic.
Meanwhile, the race for the 2nd Senate District would be unchanged as well as the top two vote-getters on Tuesday were Noreen Evans, with 45,076 votes and Lawrence Weisner with 38,026. Weisner ran unopposed for the GOP nomination. The third top voter-getter was Democrat Tom Lynch with 14,200 votes.
The race in the 6th Assembly District would also be unchanged. It would still feature incumbent Jared Huffman, a Democrat, vs. Republican Robert Louis Stephens.
– Paul Gullixson
