There were two special elections yesterday in fairly partisan districts, and we missed them. Sorry about that.  Let’s start with Republican-heavy SD-37:

Bill Emmerson (Rep) 36,507 41.61%

Matt Monica (AI) 3,884 4.43%

Anna Nevenic (Dem) 7,524 8.58%

A. B. Guerrero (Dem) 6,283 7.16%

David W. Peters (Rep) 2,036 2.32%

Justin Blake (Dem) 12,253 13.97%

Russ Bogh (Rep)        19,247 21.94%

The bolded names are the ones that will go on to the next round of elections, which I believe will be combined with the June 8 primary. This was to fill the seat of former Senator turned Riverside County Supervisor John Benoit.  Emerson, a right-winger by any standards currently represents AD-63, and will be the favorite in the next round of elections. However, Justin Blake is a really bright guy, and a pretty good candidate. Obviously, this is a long shot for him, but check out his website for more information.  

In AD-43, several Democrats are vying to replace Paul Krekorian, who left for the LA City Council.

MIKE GATTO             DEM                10,584    32.34

SUNDER   RAMANI        REP                       10,403    31.79

NAYIRI NAHABEDIAN      DEM                                 7,298    22.30

CHAHE KEUROGHELIAN     DEM                                 4,444    13.58

So, it’s going to be Gatto, who had a big money advantage over his closest competitor Nahabedian.  Mike Gatto has been Rep. Brad Sherman’s chief of staff, and is not the most progressive candidate ever.  This district has a heavily Armenian electorate, and while it votes for Democrats, you can occasionally get some interesting contests.  Gatto, barring some major upset, should cruise to the seat in June. The only question will be whether either of the Dems try to continue their campaigns on into the June 8 regular primary for this seat.  It usually doesn’t happen, but you never know with special elections.

There’s nothing like an Assemblyman who abandons his old seat mid-term to run in a district that he doesn’t represent.  This is the case with Asm. Bill Emmerson (R-Redlands Hemet) as he clearly wants the SD-37 seat that is being vacated by John Benoit.

Emmerson, R-Redlands, said he will formally announce his candidacy in the next few days. Assembly members Brian Nestande, R-Palm Desert, and Jeff Miller, R-Corona, said Thursday they are strongly considering a run, as is former Assemblyman Russ Bogh, R-Beaumont.

Democrat Justin Blake, a member of the Palm Springs school board, announced his candidacy for the seat Thursday.

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Redlands, though, isn’t in the 37th, which extends from Corona to Coachella and includes none of San Bernardino County. Emmerson said he is renting a home in Hemet, which is where he grew up and ran a dental practice. The city is fully within the 37th.

“I have a lot of friends there,” he said.(P-E 11/06/09)

Oh, yes, why I heard that Tom McClintock knew a cat in CA-04 too. And hey, it worked for him, so why not! Asm. Brian Nestande, one of the members who represents a portion of the District, has now said that he will not run for Benoit’s seat.

While Justin Blake might have something of a Google problem, I can assure you that he is not the Internet rip-off guy. He is a Palm Springs school board member and 12 year resident of Rancho Mirage, which, you know, is in the District. No website for him yet, but we’ll be sure to provide plenty of links when he does.

Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Republican State Sen. John Benoit to fill a vacancy on the Riverside County Board of Supervisors. This will create yet another special election cycle, but as David Dayen reminded us, he was already equivalent to an empty chair, since he already votes “no” on budget bills.

Benoit had been lobbying Arnold hard for the job…but that wasn’t why he voted for all of the water bills. You know, that was because he’s totally down with the peripheral canal.

Earlier in the week, Benoit said there was no connection between his desire for the supervisor’s job and his support of the water package, which includes an $11.1 billion bond.

“One thing they told me is that they’re not going to do anything until after (water) is done, because it’s a critical issue facing California,” Benoit said of the governor’s office Monday. “I’m expecting nothing to happen until after this is done.

“Tying the two together is not right, no.” (P-E 11/4/09)

As for the Senate seat, SD-37 includes about half of Palm Springs, so the registration advantage isn’t that huge for Republicans at about 4 percentage points (41-37). And in fact, Obama won the district, 50-48.  As for who could take a stab at the seat, the most obvious Dem candidate would be Palm Springs mayor Steve Pougnet. However, he’s currently running against Mary Bono Mack. There are a slew of Republicans looking at the seat, but has anybody heard about any Democratic interest?