Incumbent California Democratic Gov. Edmund Jerry Brown made history by winning a fourth term, the
Los Angeles Times reported.
"In the rest of the country, they're going in a slightly different direction," Brown said in understatement, speaking in Sacramento. "In California, we are going to go in, I think, a very progressive, but fiscally responsible direction."
Brown won 58.4 percent of the vote handily overcoming his GOP challenger Neel Kashkari who garnered 41.6 percent, the Times reported.
Some 53 U.S. House seats were at stake in California along with a host of statewide races. A
referendum on criminal sentence reduction for drug crimes passed, the Times reported.
Democrats are expected to maintain control of the state legislature — the only question was by how much.
Voter turnout was projected at 46 percent of the roughly 18 million eligible voters, the Times reported.
Kashkari conceded defeat early in the evening. He ran as a
fiscal conservative and social moderate saying that he wanted to reintroduce the Republican Party to state voters, according to the Times.
Brown's father, Edmund G. "Pat" Brown, was also a Democratic governor in California. He was defeated after two terms by Republican Ronald Reagan in 1966, according to the Times.
Analysts credited Jerry
Brown's skill at navigating the state through the national economic downturn as the main reason for his re-election. California ended its fiscal year with a $3 billion surplus.
With some California races still not called as of midnight local time, Republican winners in California for seats in the U.S. House of Representatives included incumbents Doug La Malfa, Tom McClintock, Paul Cook, Jeff Denham, David Valadao, Devin Nunes, Kevin McCarthy, Ed Royce, Dana Rohrabacher, Darrell Issa, Duncan Hunter and Ken Calvert.
Another GOP winner was Mimi Walters, who ran for an open seat.
Democrat Nancy Pelosi sailed to an easy victory overcoming her Republican challenger John Dennis, 82.4 to 17.6 percent.
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