Incumbent Congressman Richard Pombo (R-11th) won his party’s nomination for an eighth term in office Tuesday in a lopsided vote that saw his vocal Republican challenger and former Peninsula Congressman Pete McCloskey garner less than a third of the vote.
In brief remarks at his Tracy campaign headquarters, he said he will be in the district frequently in the coming months as he launches his re-election campaign for the Nov. 7 vote.
The contest ended earlier at McCloskey’s festive, balloon-filled campaign election headquarters at the Pleasanton Hilton Hotel. The candidate, subdued from the start of early returns that showed him losing, thanked his supporters, watched briefly as Pombo’s votes continued to mount, and then left by 10 p.m. By 11, the party was over.
Pombo, whose district includes Pleasanton, received 28,944 votes, or 62.3 percent of the votes cast, to McCloskey’s 114,856 votes, or 32 percent. A third candidate in the Republican primary, businessman Tom Benigno, received 2,676 votes, or just under 6 percent.
Pombo will face the Democratic Party’s nominee Jerry McNerney in the General Election June 7. McNerney, a Pleasanton resident who has never held an elective office, received 19,408 votes, or 52.6 percent, showing what party loyalists said was surprising strength over airline pilot Steve Filson, who had 10,539 votes, or 28.5 percent. A third candidate, Steve Thomas of San Ramon, trailed with 7,007 votes, or 18.9 percent.
McNerney, who was rebuffed in the primary two years ago by the local Democratic organization but later qualified for a spot on the November ballot to oppose Pombo, was endorsed this time by U.S. Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-10th) and the California Democratic Party. Filson, on the other hand, was endorsed by the national Democratic Campaign Committee, which was seeking a viable candidate to defeat Pombo in November.
McNerney was one of three Pleasanton residents vying in Tuesday’s primary. Jill Buck ran unopposed for the Republican nomination in the 18th State Assembly District, earning 9,520 votes. On the Democratic ticket, Bill McCammon, also of Pleasanton, lost a heartbreaker to Mary Hayashi, who received 17,029 votes, or 51 percent, to McCammon’s 16,421, or 49 percent. Buck and Hayashi will face off in November in a district that includes Pleasanton’s downtown and most neighborhoods to the north and west.
In the 15th district, former Dublin mayor and current State Assemblyman Guy Houston ran unopposed for the Republican nomination, earning 27,910, or 100 percent of the votes cast. On the Democratic Party ticket, Terry Coleman also ran unopposed, gaining all of the 26,216 cast.
There was also no contest in the 20th Assembly District, with Democratic Assemblyman Alberto Torrico winning all 22,616 of the votes cast, and Republican Ken Nishimura receiving all 9,302 votes.
Turnout was light throughout Pleasanton, with precincts often empty. Although no specific counts of the number of votes cast in Pleasanton is yet available, the turnout for all of Alameda County was just under 30 percent, slightly higher than that statewide turnout of 28 percent.
In other races, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger won the Republican nomination with 89.9 percent of the vote. He will face Phil Angelides in November, who received 47.9 percent of the vote to runner-up challenger Steve Westly, with 43.4 percent.
California Senator Dianne Feinstein easily won her Democratic Party’s nomination for re-election with 1,772,995, or 86.9 percent of the votes cast, against two challengers, Colleen Fernald and Martin Luther Church, who received 8 percent and 5.1 percent of the votes cast, respectively.
Winning the Republican nomination for the Senate seat was Richard Mountjoy, with all 1,270,000 of the votes cast.
Both state propositions failed. Proposition 81 that would have allowed the state to sell $600 million in bonds to provide grants to local agencies for the construction, renovation and expansion of local library facilities, failed 53 percent to 47 percent, or 2,104,230 to 1,865,583.
Proposition 82, the preschool bill that would have paid for preschooling for a year before attending kindergarten, lost by an even bigger margin. There were 2,453,578 No votes, or 60.9 percent, against 1,577,048 favorable votes, or 39.1 percent.
Officials said Proposition 81 would not have affected Pleasanton, since it was aimed at districts where library improvement programs are already in place. The Pleasanton Library’s expansion plans are not expected to be ready for another two years or more, long after the Proposition 81 money has run out.
In the highly contested nonpartisan race for the Alameda County Superior Court Judge seat, Dennis Hayashi won with 48,714 votes, or 30.7 percent, trailed by Sandra Bean, 21.3 percent, and Kathy Mount, 17.7 percent.
Other Alameda County races were uncontested. Those winning included Ron Thomsen, as Assessor; Patrick O’Connell, Auditor-Controller; Gregory Ahern, Sheriff; and Donald R. White, County Treasurer and Tax Collector.
