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 [ edit ] 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 [ edit ] 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".
2006 35th State Senate district special election [ edit ] 2008 12th State Senate district recall election [ edit ] California's 12th State Senate district recall election, 2008[ 1] Vote on recall Votes Percentage No 61,309 75.36% Yes 20,043 24.64% Valid votes 81,352 95.11% Invalid or blank votes 4,183 4.89% Totals 85,535 100.00% Voter turnout 28.44% Party Candidate Votes Percentage Democratic Simon Salinas 30,946 100.00% Valid votes 30,946 36.18% Invalid or blank votes 54,589 63.82% Totals 85,535 100.00% Voter turnout 28.44% Republican hold
2009 26th State Senate district special election [ edit ] 2010 37th State Senate district special election [ edit ] 2010 15th State Senate district special election [ edit ] 2011 17th district special election [ edit ]
2011 28th district special election [ edit ] 2013 4th district special election [ edit ] California's 4th State Senate district special election, 2013 Vacancy resulting from the resignation of Doug LaMalfa Primary election Party Candidate Votes % Republican Jim Nielsen 188,207 49.8 Democratic Michael "Mickey" Harrington 104,572 27.7 Republican Dan Logue 43,303 11.5 No party preference Jann Reed 24,966 6.6 No party preference Dan Levine 9,882 2.6 No party preference Benjamin "Ben" Emery 7,146 1.9 Total votes 378,076 100.0 General election Republican Jim Nielsen 97,849 66.6 Democratic Michael "Mickey" Harrington 49,004 33.4 Total votes 146,853 100.0 Republican hold
2013 40th district special election [ edit ] 2013 32nd district special election [ edit ] California's 32nd State Senate district special election, 2013 Vacancy resulting from the resignation of Gloria Negrete McLeod Primary election Party Candidate Votes % Democratic Norma Torres 15,021 44.0 Republican Paul S. Leon 8,961 26.4 Democratic Larry Walker 4,620 13.6 Democratic Joanne T. Gilbert 2,327 6.9 Republican Kenny Coble 2,178 6.4 Democratic Paul Vincent Avila 845 2.5 Total votes 33,952 100.0 General election Democratic Norma Torres 21,251 59.6 Republican Paul S. Leon 14,432 40.4 Total votes 35,683 100.0 Democratic hold
2013 16th district special election [ edit ] 2013 26th district special election [ edit ]
2014 23rd district special election [ edit ] 2014 35th district special election [ edit ] 2015 7th district special election [ edit ] 2015 21st district special election [ edit ] 2015 37th district special election [ edit ] 2018 29th district special recall election [ edit ] 2018 32nd district special election [ edit ] 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.[ 5]
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 [ edit ] 2019 California's 1st State Senate district special election Vacancy resulting from the resignation of Ted Gaines [ 6] 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 [ edit ] 2019 California's 33rd State Senate district special election Vacancy resulting from the resignation of Ricardo Lara [ 7] 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 [ edit ] 2021 30th district special election [ edit ] ^ "Statement of Vote: June 3, 2008, Statewide Direct Primary Election" (PDF) . California Secretary of State . 2008-07-16. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-07-17. Retrieved 2008-07-16 . ^ "Special Election Results: Senate District 26 Special Election, May 19, 2009 - FINAL OFFICIAL RESULTS" (PDF) . California Secretary of State . 2009-06-01. Retrieved 2009-06-28 . ^ "Official Canvass: State Senator 37th Senate District Special General Election, June 8, 2010" (PDF) . California Secretary of State . 2010-07-12. Retrieved 2010-08-18 . ^ "Official Canvass State Senator 15th Senate District Special General Election, August 17, 2010" (PDF) . California Secretary of State . 2010-08-25. Retrieved 2010-12-22 . ^ 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 .