Democratic Incumbents Win Riverside County In Primary Election

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — As ballots continue to be tallied Wednesday in Riverside County, local Democrats appear to have had a say in the region.

While Election night vote counting is complete, results are not final. Approximately 150,000 vote-by-mail and 2,000 provisional ballots must still be processed. Ballots postmarked on or before Election Day also remain to be counted, according to the Riverside County Registrar of Voters.

Still, Wednesday's tallies show that Riverside County voters leaned toward Democratic incumbent candidates in nearly every race.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, who easily glided to a statewide November runoff, was leading the pack with 49.56 percent of the vote in Riverside County. Brian Dahle was the governor's closest contender among local voters, but the Republican was far behind the Democratic incumbent with 19.72 percent of the vote.

It was a similar scenario down-ballot.

Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, Secretary of State Shirley Weber, State Treasurer Fiona Ma, Attorney General Rob Bonta, Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, State Sen. Alex Padilla and State Board of Equalization 4th District Member Mike Schaefer — all Democratic incumbents — were each at the top of the pack in their respective races Wednesday morning, according to Riverside County results.

The only Republican Sacramento representative who Riverside County voters appear to have favored was incumbent Controller Lanhee Chen.

Local Democratic state lawmakers were also grabbing the Riverside County vote. U.S. Congressional Representatives Raul Ruiz (25th District), Norma Torres (35th District) and Mark Takano (39th District) were ahead, as were State Assembly Members Eduardo Garcia (36th District) and Sabrina Cervantes (58th District).

Three incumbent U.S. Congressional Representatives Young Kim (40th District), Ken Calvert (41st District) and Darrell Issa (48th District) were leading among Riverside County voters, but only Issa had garnered a majority Riverside County vote with 57.83 percent as of Wednesday morning.

Results for open state Assembly and Senate seats were more mixed. Democrats Steve Padilla (State Senate, 18th District), Christy Holstege (State Assembly, 47th District) and Fauzia Rizvi (State Assembly, 63rd District) were ahead among Riverside County voters, while Republicans Hector Diaz-Nava (State Assembly, 60th District), Kelly Seyarto (State Senate, 32nd District) and Matt Rahn (State Assembly, 71st District) were leading.

See all the live results in Riverside County: