Colonel William A. Phillips

The 2008 California State Senate elections took place on November 4, 2008. Voters in California's odd-numbered State Senate districts, a total of 20, voted for their state senators. No seats changed parties and the Democratic Party maintained its 25-seat majority, while the Republican Party held 15 seats. Other elections also took place in California on November 4.

Only a single State Senate district, the 19th, was considered truly competitive by political analysts.^[1]

Overview

California State Senate elections, 2008^[2]^[3]
Party		Votes	Percentage	Seats up	Seats not up	Total seats	+/–
	Democratic	3,786,204	55.06%	11	14	25	0
	Republican	2,837,361	41.27%	9	6	15	0
	Independent	131,248	1.91%	0	0	0	0
	Libertarian	94,132	1.37%	0	0	0	0
	Peace and Freedom	26,996	0.39%	0	0	0	0
Totals		6,875,941	100.00%	20	20	40	—
Voter turnout		72.60%

Composition

2007–2008 State Senate

2009–2010 State Senate

Color Key:		= Democratic		= Republican

Pre-election Democratic: 25 Republican: 15 Total: 40

Contested: 20 Democratic uncontested: 14 Republican uncontested: 6 Total: 40

Post-election Democratic: 25 Republican: 15 Total: 40

Results

The following candidates are the official results from the California Secretary of State.^[2]^[3]

District 1

California's 1st State Senate district election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dave Cox (incumbent)	267,426	62.27
	Democratic	Anselmo Chavez	162,044	37.73
Total votes			429,470	100.00
Turnout			{{{votes}}}	75.31
	Republican hold

District 3

California's 3rd State Senate district election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Mark Leno	326,755	80.21
	Republican	Sashi McEntee	80,617	19.79
Total votes			407,372	100.00
Turnout			{{{votes}}}	78.08
	Democratic hold

District 5

California's 5th State Senate district election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Lois Wolk	207,108	64.54
	Republican	Greg Aghazarian	113,778	35.46
Total votes			320,886	100.00
Turnout			{{{votes}}}	73.54
	Democratic hold

District 7

California's 7th State Senate district election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Mark DeSaulnier	256,311	66.54
	Republican	Christian Amsberry	128,878	33.46
Total votes			385,189	100.00
Turnout			{{{votes}}}	78.22
	Democratic hold

District 9

California's 9th State Senate district election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Loni Hancock	272,225	77.22
	Republican	Claudia Bermudez	53,299	15.12
	Peace and Freedom	Marsha Feinland	26,996	7.66
Total votes			352,520	100.00
Turnout			{{{votes}}}	70.50
	Democratic hold

District 11

California's 11th State Senate district election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Joe Simitian (incumbent)	272,154	74.82
	Republican	Blair Nathan	91,592	25.18
Total votes			363,746	100.00
Turnout			{{{votes}}}	76.37
	Democratic hold

District 13

California's 13th State Senate district election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Elaine Alquist (incumbent)	179,855	70.94
	Republican	Shane Connolly	57,033	22.49
	Libertarian	John Webster	16,659	6.57
Total votes			253,547	100.00
Turnout			{{{votes}}}	75.24
	Democratic hold

District 15

California's 15th State Senate district election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Abel Maldonado (incumbent)	222,617	62.91
	Independent	Jim Fitzgerald	131,229	37.09
Total votes			353,846	100.00
Turnout			{{{votes}}}	74.71
	Republican hold

District 17

California's 17th State Senate district election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	George Runner (incumbent)	182,295	54.85
	Democratic	Bruce McFarland	150,060	45.15
Total votes			332,355	100.00
Turnout			{{{votes}}}	70.90
	Republican hold

District 19

California's 19th State Senate district election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Tony Strickland	207,976	50.10
	Democratic	Hannah-Beth Jackson	207,119	49.90
	Independent	Peter Diederich (write-in)	14	0.00
Total votes			415,109	100.00
Turnout			{{{votes}}}	78.94
	Republican hold

District 21

California's 21st State Senate district election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Carol Liu	204,737	66.88
	Republican	Teddy Choi	77,525	25.33
	Libertarian	Steve Myers	23,842	7.79
Total votes			306,104	100.00
Turnout			{{{votes}}}	69.81
	Democratic hold

District 23

California's 23rd State Senate district election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Fran Pavley	238,172	67.40
	Republican	Rick Montaine	96,274	27.25
	Libertarian	Colin Goldman	18,906	5.35
Total votes			353,352	100.00
Turnout			{{{votes}}}	70.91
	Democratic hold

District 25

California's 25th State Senate district election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Roderick Wright	179,654	71.90
	Republican	Lydia Gutierrez	70,199	28.10
Total votes			249,853	100.00
Turnout			{{{votes}}}	66.73
	Democratic hold

District 27

California's 27th State Senate district election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Alan Lowenthal (incumbent)	171,668	67.34
	Republican	Allen Wood	83,268	32.66
Total votes			254,936	100.00
Turnout			{{{votes}}}	67.36
	Democratic hold

District 29

California's 29th State Senate district election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bob Huff	178,155	54.37
	Democratic	Joseph Lyons	127,536	38.92
	Libertarian	Jill Stone	21,983	6.71
Total votes			327,674	100.00
Turnout			{{{votes}}}	69.66
	Republican hold

District 31

California's 31st State Senate district election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Robert Dutton (incumbent)	186,191	58.70
	Democratic	Ameenah Fuller	130,973	41.29
	Independent	Denise Sternberg (write-in)	5	0.00
Total votes			317,169	100.00
Turnout			{{{votes}}}	70.43
	Republican hold

District 33

California's 33rd State Senate district election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mimi Walters	219,068	58.11
	Democratic	Gary Pritchard	157,945	41.89
Total votes			377,013	100.00
Turnout			{{{votes}}}	69.46
	Republican hold

District 35

California's 35th State Senate district election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Tom Harman (incumbent)	222,149	58.55
	Democratic	Ginny Meyer	157,271	41.45
Total votes			379,420	100.00
Turnout			{{{votes}}}	67.73
	Republican hold

District 37

California's 37th State Senate district election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John Benoit	190,415	54.79
	Democratic	Arthur Guerrero	157,142	45.21
Total votes			347,557	100.00
Turnout			{{{votes}}}	72.48
	Republican hold

District 39

California's 39th State Senate district election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Christine Kehoe (incumbent)	227,475	65.21
	Republican	Jeff Perwin	108,606	31.13
	Libertarian	Jesse Thomas	12,742	3.65
Total votes			348,823	100.00
Turnout			{{{votes}}}	73.39
	Democratic hold

References

^ Dayen, David (August 14, 2008). "The Calitics Target Book - The Drive For 2/3". Calitics. Archived from the original on November 27, 2008. Retrieved February 21, 2009.
^ ^a ^b "Statement of Vote: November 4, 2008, General Election" (PDF). California Secretary of State. December 15, 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 18, 2012. Retrieved February 21, 2009.
^ ^a ^b "Report of Registration as of October 20, 2008: Registration by State Senate District" (PDF). California Secretary of State. October 31, 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 25, 2009. Retrieved February 21, 2009.

[1] Dayen, David (August 14, 2008). "The Calitics Target Book - The Drive For 2/3". Calitics. Archived from the original on November 27, 2008. Retrieved February 21, 2009.

[results-2] "Statement of Vote: November 4, 2008, General Election" (PDF). California Secretary of State. December 15, 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 18, 2012. Retrieved February 21, 2009.

[turnout-3] "Report of Registration as of October 20, 2008: Registration by State Senate District" (PDF). California Secretary of State. October 31, 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 25, 2009. Retrieved February 21, 2009.

[1]

[2]

[3]

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(2007 ←) California elections, 2008 (→ 2009)
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