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".
Results
2006 35th State Senate district special election
2008 12th State Senate district recall election
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
2010 37th State Senate district special election
2010 15th State Senate district special election
2011 17th district special election
2011 28th district special election
2013 4th district special election
California's 4th State Senate district special election, 2013Doug 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
2013 32nd district special election
California's 32nd State Senate district special election, 2013Gloria 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
2013 26th district special election
2014 23rd district special election
2014 35th district special election
2015 7th district special election
2015 21st district special election
2015 37th district special election
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.[5]
2018 California's 32nd State Senate district special electionTony 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 electionTed 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
2019 California's 33rd State Senate district special electionRicardo 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
2021 30th district special election
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