[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Upsets were the order of the day in the few contested State Senate races on Tuesday's ballot.

Senate District 3 -- In the marquee contest, Sen. Carole Migdenwas ousted in her bid for re-election by Assemblymember Mark Leno. Lenotook 43 percent of the vote, outpacing former Assemblymember JoeNation, who had 29.3 percent, and Sen. Migden, who finished third with27.7 percent.

Senate District 5 -- Assemblymember Lois Wolk clobbered herprimary opponent and heads into the general election with a head ofsteam. She'll face Assemblymember Greg Aghazarian.  Wolk pulled morethan 12,000 more votes than Aghazarian in the primary -- a healthy signfor her general election prospects in a seat that he GOP has tried towrest from term-limited. Sen. Mike Machado in the past.

Senate District 9 -- Assemblymember Loni Hancock won adouble-digit victory over former Assemblymember Wilma Chan. Hancock'sstrong 56.5-43.5 percent margin bucked massive IE spending against herby tribal gaming interests.

There's more...

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

Part 1: University workers, education, the delta, and transportation
Part 2: Transparency in government, flood protection, her record working in a bipartisan manner, and the needs of local government

By Doug Paul Davis
People's Vanguard of Davis

In a lengthy interview, the Vanguard sat down on April 18 with Assemblywoman Lois Wolk, candidate for the State Senate, 5th District. In November she will face Republican Assemblyman Greg Aghazarian.

In the first segment of a three-part interview, the Assemblywoman discusses the agreement by the University to make Sodexho Workers full-time employees, the educational crisis in California, the Delta, and transportation.

In the second segment, the Assemblywoman discusses the transparency in government, flood protection, her record working in a bipartisan manner, and the needs of local government.

Stay tuned for the final interview to be published.

Part 1: University Workers, Education, the Delta, and Transportation

by cali_girl_in_texas [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Here is my updated legislature outlook, with the updated registration numbers of the districts where the current incumbents are term-limited. I am using a "Partisan Factor" (PF), which is the average of the margins in registration, Davis-Simon (02G), Kerry-Bush (04P), Boxer-Jones (04S), and Feinstein-Mountjoy (06S). My previous diary is here, the initial discussion we had on the legislature outlook is here, and the updated numbers are below the flip.

I am proud to announce that... (*drumroll*) ...we now have a Democratic registration advantage in the 15th and 26th Assembly districts!
ASSEMBLY

Republican-Held Seats (12)

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Doug Paul Davis

Now the fun has truly begun. The Davis Enterprise reported yesterday that Lois Wolk, Assemblywoman who currently represents Davis in the 8th Assembly District will run for the state senate. She is unopposed for the Democratic primary.

Her opponent will be fellow Assemblyman Greg Aghazarian--who also figures to run unopposed for the Republican nomination.

Now it is time to get serious for Wolk. Frankly I was appalled when I saw the campaign finance figures that came out of the recent reporting period. Lois Wolk has raised all of $140,831. What has she been doing for the last year and two months? Was she really expecting to be able to run for reelection to the Assembly by way of passage of Prop 93.

Her opponent has already raised $656,675 and a good chunk of that has come directly from the Republican Party--which means that they are targeting this race.

The Enterprise reports that Wolk has accepted campaign spending limits, but Aghazarian has not. That's actually misleading, what this really means is that Aghazarian has passed the limits already in the amount he can spend. The law provides for a candidate to amend that form at least twice during the course of the campaign, so as soon as the candidate passes the finance limit, they will simply file an amended statement.

by cali_girl_in_texas [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Here is my updated legislature outlook, with the updated registration numbers of the districts where the current incumbents are term-limited. I am using a "Partisan Factor" (PF), which is the average of the margins in registration, Davis-Simon (02G), Kerry-Bush (04P), Boxer-Jones (04S), and Feinstein-Mountjoy (06S). My previous diary is here, the initial discussion we had on the legislature outlook is here, and the updated numbers are below the flip.
ASSEMBLY

Republican-Held Seats (12)

by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Doug Paul Davis

The Vanguard has received word that John Garamendi, Jr. has opted to not challenge Assemblywoman Lois Wolk for the Democratic nomination for the 5th Senate District. That leaves Assemblywoman Wolk from Davis as the only announced Democrat in a bid to succeed current Democratic State Senator Mike Machado.

In 2004, Mike Machado won a very hard fought battle against Stockton Mayor Gary Podesto. In a race that went back and forth up until the end, Machado ended up edging out Podesto by a margin of 52.2 to 47.8.

The closeness of that race and competitiveness of the district will likely make this race one of most heavily watched and financed State Senate races in the state. Indeed, the race has drawn a top notch Republican in Assemblyman Greg Aghazarian.

There is however, word now from some people close to the scene that has suggested that neither the Democratic leadership nor Senator Machado himself are convinced that Assemblywoman Wolk can win this seat. Part of that has to do with the southern portion of the district--the locations that Wolk does not currently represent--being larger than the north. In addition, that portion is much more conservative than the northern part.