Primaries: Walker beats back recall, Hernández will face Denham in California congressional race
The ex-space shuttle astronaut is expected to give Denham a tough race.
Former NASA Astronaut José Hernández (D) will face off against incumbent Rep. Jeff Denham (R) in a closely-watched congressional race in California’s Central Valley.
Denham and Hernández were the top two vote getters in the state’s 10th district after Tuesday night’s primary election. Under new California election rules, the top two candidates in the primary field regardless of political party earn the right to meet in the general election. Denham and Hernández edged out three other candidates, including independent Chad Condit, the son of former Rep. Gary Condit (D).
Denham took over 48 percent of the vote in primary against Hernández’s nearly 29 percent, establishing the Republican as the front-runner in the race.
Nevertheless, the race is expected to be competitive. Hernández is one of close to three dozen Democratic candidates running in GOP-held districts who are receiving assistance from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
The Republican acknowledged it would be a tough campaign.
“I can expect the worst from Nancy Pelosi,” Denham said, according to the Modesto Bee.
“We’re very happy with the results,” Hernandez said, according to theBee. “It went exactly how we expected it to go.
“it’s going to be very easy to show the differences between myself and my opponent,” in the general election, he added.
Walker beats back Wisconsin recall effort
“Wisconsin voters rejected a year-long effort to recall Gov. Scott Walker (R) and replace him with Democratic challenger Tom Barrett,” write Matthew Jaffe, Elizabeth Hartfield and Z. Byron Wolf for ABC News.
The recall effort, which stemmed from Walker’s efforts to curb collective bargaining rights for public-employee unions, transformed into a national proxy fight over how to solve the nation’s budget woes. Taking place in an election year, political observers saw the race as a telling preview of President Obama’s match up with Mitt Romney in the fall.
Barrett’s defeat, the second time he’s lost to Walker in 18 months, was a tough blow for labor organizations, which poured millions of dollars into backing the Democratic challenger. At the same time, the result emboldened Republicans who believe they have a shot at winning Wisconsin, a state that Democrats have carried for years in presidential contests, in the fall.
Lujan Grisham wins primary in New Mexico
“Bernalillo County Commissioner Michelle Lujan Grisham won a tight Democratic primary Tuesday in New Mexico’s 1st District, narrowly edging state Sen. Eric Griego for the nomination,” writes Scott Bland for National Journal. “Lujan Grisham enters the general election to replace Democratic Rep. Martin Heinrich as a favorite over Republican former state Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones, who was unopposed for the GOP nomination. President Obama about 60 percent of the district’s presidential vote in 2008.”
The Democrat’s grandfather, Eugene Lujan, was the first Latino chief justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court, according to her official biography.
(Photo: Facebook.com/joseforcongress)
