Catch Up: Here’s What Happened to California Election Results While You Were Sleeping | Lost Coast Outpost

While Republicans celebrated a red wave nationally, California voters affirmed the state’s solid blue policies and Democratic candidates saw strong returns for state and federal office.

Because perspective second presidency of Donald Trump loomed over California, the state elected new US Senator Adam Schiff. A Democrat from Burbank, Schiff made a national name for himself in the U.S. House of Representatives by leading the prosecution of Trump’s first impeachment and for his key role in the investigation into the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol.

Democrats also led in the most contentious races for represent California in Congressand they led the races that expanded them supermajority in the state legislatureputting the state well positioned to lead the resistance to a second Trump presidency.

But California voters were hesitant to fully embrace the progressive agenda. They went well Voting initiative to tighten criminal penaltiesThe measure was opposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom and the progressive wing of the Legislature. They have once again rejected a ballot initiative that would have allowed expansion of rent control.

And they fired a progressive prosecutor in Los Angeles County, the state’s largest.

“This is just one of those cases where being loyal to Democratic candidates and supporting Democratic candidates doesn’t always mean being loyal to every progressive cause,” said Paul Mitchell, an election analyst.

News outlets named Democrat Kamala Harris as the winner of the state’s electoral votes after polls closed at 8 p.m., and quickly called the race for the U.S. Senate seat long held by Democrat Dianne Feinstein. Schiff defeated Steve Garvey, the former Los Angeles Dodgers star seeking to become the first Republican elected statewide in 18 years. Schiff won a six-year term to replace Sen. LaFonza Butler, who decided not to seek re-election after Newsom nominated her to replace Feinstein, who died last year.

Democrats have taken early leads in four of the six contested congressional races, key seats that could keep Democrats in control of the chamber and serve as a bulwark against Trump.

The Associated Press still hasn’t named who controls House of Representatives and it may take days or more to determine winners in some of these contested races, especially in California.

On the ballot, voters overwhelmingly voted for Proposition 36, opposed by progressives, which increases penalties for certain crimes, and partial vote totals show they reject progressive-backed Proposition 6, which would ban forced labor in prisons. Proposition 33, which would have expanded rent control, failed.

Regulation 32, which would raise the minimum wagewas too close to call, like several others national proposals.

Meanwhile, Democrats held a lead over their Republican opponents in three contested legislative seats, which would expand the supermajority they need to raise taxes or place initiatives on the ballot without a single Republican vote.

But if the early voting results hold, Mike Gatto, a former Democratic state legislator from Los Angeles, warned members of his party not to view it as an edict from the California electorate to adopt far-left policies in response to Trump’s return to office. Gatto noted that California voters appeared to be signaling a more moderate platform through the state’s ballot initiatives. Given the national election results, Gatto said California’s elected Democrats should be wary of appearing too liberal.

“I think it would be smart for California Democrats to try to soften the agenda a little bit,” Gatto said.

In Los Angeles County, voters chose Nathan Hochman — a former federal prosecutor who was running for state attorney general as a Republican in 2022 — to replace incumbent District Attorney George Gascón, a progressive.

Some experts say the votes show California has more nuanced political views than its national reputation as a liberal bastion suggests.

Christian Grose, a political science professor at the University of Southern California, said the mixed bag is fairly typical in California.

“The state as a whole looks like it is still moving toward democracy and could tilt the U.S. House of Representatives toward the Democrats,” he said, “while supporting policies that are sometimes a little more conservative and a little more liberal.”

One word of caution about election night results in California: For some of the closest races, it could be weeks before we know the final result. Although this caused mistrust among voters, the reasons are not nefarious.

As of 2020, California mails a ballot to every registered voter—a convenience that requires additional verification by local election officials when it is returned, including verifying the authenticity of the signature and verifying that the voter has not already voted in another jurisdiction before it is counted . Counting requires significantly more manual labor as workers must open envelopes, remove ballots, line them up for counting machines, and duplicate any damaged ballots that cannot be read.

California will accept ballots that arrive up to seven days late as long as they are postmarked by the election date, giving voters a chance to correct missing or mismatched signatures. These delays are intentional to minimize the number of eligible voters disqualified for procedural reasons and to ensure a secure and accurate vote count.

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CalMatters Capitol reporter Alexei Koseff contributed to this story.

CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media enterprise that explains California politics and policy.