All the incumbents of local state offices were confirmed by the voters in Tuesday's general election.
State Senator Anthony Cannella, R-Ceres, handily fended off a challenge by Shawn K. Bagley, a Monterey Democrat, in the District 12 Senate contest. Cannella collected 66,794 votes, or 61.5 percent, to Bagley's 41,777 votes (38.5 percent).
In a hotly contested race for state Assembly, incumbent Adam Gray held onto his 21st Assembly District seat with 33,336 votes, or 53 percent. He outdistanced Republican Merced businessman Jack Mobley who received the support of 29,509 voters, or 47 percent.
Congressman Jeff Denham will return to Washington, D.C., after beating Turlock beekeeper Michael Eggman in the 10th Congressional District race. Denham, a Turlock Republican who was first elected in 2009, received 62,750 votes (56.4 percent) to Eggman's 48,510 votes (43.6 percent).
Matt Beekman, who was uncontested in the Hughson mayor's race, received 1,109 votes with 176 voters who decided not to weigh in, probably since he was a shoo-in. Joining him on the Hughson City Council will be incumbent George Carr who amassed 803 votes (40.9 percent) and appointed incumbent Harold "Bud" Hill with 715 votes (36.29 percent). Challenger Billy Gonzales was disappointed with a third-place finish at 429 votes (21.78 percent).
Turlock elected a new mayor in Gary Soiseth over Mike Brem. Turlock voters also slayed a proposal to adopt a road tax.
Voters in Hughson and Keyes who are in the state Assembly District 12, weighed in on whether to keep Modesto Republican Kristin Olsen or replace her with Harinder Grewal of Keyes, an agricultural export specialist and CSUS economics lecturer. Olsen's popularity was evident in the lopsided victory over Grewal. Olsen collected 54,865 votes (67.1 percent) over Grewal's 26,873 votes (32.9 percent).
State Senator Tom Berryhill, who is currently in District 8 but running in the newly created District 8, won in his election against Paulina Miranda, a Democrat. Berryhill grew up in Ceres. Berryhill clobbered Miranda in a 66.7 percent to 33.3 percent outcome with Berryhill receiving 133,900 votes to Miranda's 66,936. The new Senate district will be vast in geography and while including Hughson, Turlock, Oakdale and Waterford, will also stretch from Rancho Cordova and Mammoth Lakes all the way down to Death Valley and Bishop.
In the governor's race, Jerry Brown was re-elected with 3,842,237 votes over Republican Neel Kashkari with 2,629,389 votes.
The race for lieutenant governor was much tighter for incumbent Gavin Newsom. He collected 3,598,204 votes (56.6 percent) over Republican Ron Nehring who received 43.4 percent of the vote (2,759,269 votes).
In the Secretary of State race, Democratic state senator Alex Padilla won with 3,321,494 votes (53.0 percent) over Pete Peterson, a Republican who is the executive director of the Davenport Institute. Peterson amassed 2,947,172 votes for 47.0 percent of the vote.
San Francisco Democrat Betty Yee, a member of the state Board of Equalization, was sent to the office of state controller with 3,334,146 votes (53.4 percent) over Ashley Swearengin, the Republican mayor of Fresno, who collected 2,913,347 votes (46.6percent).
Current state controller John Chiang won his bid for the office of state treasurer against Greg Conlon, a Republican CPA. Chiang received 3,663,779 votes (58.3 percent) over Conlon's 2,621,696 (41.7 percent).
California State Attorney General Kamala Harris, a Democrat, handily defeated Republican Ronald Gold, a former deputy attorney general. Harris collected 3,593,787 votes (56.9 percent) to Gold's 2,722,511 votes (43.1 percent).
In the state insurance commissioner race, Democrat Dave Jones won with 3,539,704 votes (57.0 percent), over Republican Ted Gaines who collected 2,675,157 votes (43.0 percent).
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson, who visited Ceres High School this year, won over challenger Marshall Tuck. Torlakson received 2,809,170 votes (52.2 percent) over Tuck's 2,575,934 count (47.8 percent).
Republican George Runner, the incumbent sitting in the District 1 Board of Equalization seat, was re-elected over Democrat Chris Parker. Runner collected 852,728 votes (58.5 percent) over Parker's 605,673 votes (41.5 percent).
State voters also backed California State Supreme Court justices Kathryn Mickle Werdegar, Goodwin Liu and Mariano-Florentino Cuellar.
California voters also passed Prop. 1, the water bond measure, by a margin of 67.2 percent to 32.9 percent. They also liked Prop. 2, the State Budget Stabilization Account, by a bigger margin of 69.2 percent to 30.8 percent.
Voters struck down Propositions 45 and 46 that would have changed insurance regulations. Prop. 45 was denied by a margin of 40.7 percent to 59.3 percent. Prop. 46, was defeated by a margin of 32.8 percent to 67.2 percent.
State voters approved Prop. 47 which will declassify some crimes as misdemeanors and result in less court activity. The measure was condemned by Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson who said it will let up to 10,000 felons out of prison and decreasing penalties for crimes like gun theft, possession of date rape drugs, and identity theft. The measure passed statewide 59.0 percent to 41.0 percent.
Indian gaming's Prop. 48 failed by a margin of 39 percent to 61 percent. It would have allowed the North Folk Rancheria of Mono Indians to build a new casino just north of Fresno.
