The 2010 United States Senate election in California took place on November 2, 2010. The election was held alongside 33 other United States Senate elections, in addition to congressional, state, and various local elections. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer won re-election to a fourth term.

Democratic primary

Candidates Barbara Boxer, incumbent U.S. senator Mickey Kaus, journalist and blogger Brian Quintana, businessman and educator

Campaign In 2009, Boxer was criticized for correcting a general who called her "ma'am". Brigadier General Michael Walsh was testifying on the Louisiana coastal restoration process in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and answered Boxer's query with "ma'am" when Boxer interrupted him. "Do me a favor," Boxer said. "can you say 'senator' instead of 'ma'am?'" "Yes, ma'am," Walsh interjected. "It's just a thing, I worked so hard to get that title, so I'd appreciate it. Thank you," she said. The Army's guide to protocol instructs service members to call members of the U.S. Senate "sir", "ma'am" or "senator".Sen. Boxer Offers No Apology for Rebuking Brigadier General Who Called Her 'Ma'am'Barbara Boxer is a Senator, damn it, and don't you forget it (video) Fiorina used this incident prominently in campaign ads, as did David Zucker, who directed a humorous commercial for RightChange.com titled "Call Me Senator".

Results

Republican primary

Candidates Tom Campbell, former U.S. representative from Silicon Valley (1989–93 and 1995–2001) and candidate for Senate in 1992 and 2000 Chuck DeVore, state assemblyman from Irvine (2004–10) Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard Tim Kalemkarian Al Ramirez, businessman

Declined

Arnold Schwarzenegger, governor of California since 2003

Campaign Through 2009, the race largely shaped up as a campaign between former Hewlett-Packard executive Carly Fiorina and Irvine assemblyman Chuck DeVore. In November 2009, the Los Angeles Times reported that Fiorina had failed to vote in most elections. Fiorina apologized by saying, "I'm a lifelong registered Republican but I haven't always voted, and I will provide no excuse for it. You know, people die for the right to vote. And there are many, many Californians and Americans who exercise that civic duty on a regular basis. I didn't. Shame on me."

In January 2010, Tom Campbell joined the race. He had previously been running for governor and had run unsuccessful campaigns for Senate in 1992 and 2000. Campbell led in initial public polling over Fiorina and DeVore. However, his campaign declined after sustained negative attacks from Fiorina and controversy over his past support for and association with Sami Al-Arian.

In February, Fiorina put out a campaign ad attacking Campbell as a wolf in sheep's clothing for his relatively liberal voting record. The ad, which became known as the Demon Sheep ad, gained international, mostly negative, publicity for its bizarre visuals, including a man in a sheep costume with glowing red eyes.

Fiorina was more successful in attacking Campbell in February over his associations with Sami Al-Arian, a computer engineering professor at the University of South Florida who had pleaded guilty in 2006 after a lengthy trial for conspiracy to help the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a designated terrorist group.MegLaughlin, In his plea deal, what did Sami Al-Arian admit to?, St. Petersburg Times, April 23, 2006. In 2000, Campbell had received campaign contributions from Al-Arian, and in January 2002, Campbell wrote a letter opposing academic discipline for Al-Arian.

Campbell initially denied that he had received contributions from Al-Arian, which proved to be untrue. He defended the letter by arguing that he had not been aware of the charges against Al-Arian when he wrote it and had also not been aware of comments Al-Arian had recorded in Cleveland, Ohio in 1988, when he shouted, "Jihad is our path. Victory to Islam. Death to Israel." Al-Arian had previously defended the remarks on a September 26, 2001 episode of The O'Reilly Factor; Campbell initially claimed that his letter had been sent before the O'Reilly interview, but Al-Arian was placed on initial academic leave shortly after the interview. Despite this, Campbell maintained,I did not hear, I did not read, I was not aware of statements Sami Al-Arian had made relative to Israel. And I would not have written the letter had I known about those. ... To say 'Death to Israel' is abhorrent; it's horrible.As a result of his Al-Arian associations, Fiorina accused Campbell of being unfriendly to the interests of Israel. In late February, former California Secretary of State and state senator Bruce McPherson claimed that Fiorina campaign manager Marty Wilson, a longtime Sacramento political operative, had called Campbell an antisemite and expressed surprise that McPherson was endorsing Campbell. Wilson strongly denied McPherson's charge.

A live March 5 debate between the three main candidates was hosted by KTKZ in Sacramento and focused on the issue at Campbell's behest. Campbell responded strongly to Fiorina's accusations, saying, "I called for this debate today so that both of my opponents can bring up absolutely any charge they want. Air it, and let me respond to it. But there's no place for calling me antisemitic, then denying it. That whispering campaign, that 'silent slander,' stops today."Hogue News , "Spirited CA GOP Senatorial Debate," by Eric Hogue (March 5, 2010 – retrieved on March 5, 2010). Campbell maintained that he had not been aware of Al-Arian's statements and attributed his earlier inaccurate claims to failures of memory, but he apologized for not researching the matter more thoroughly before writing the letter.

After the March debate, Campbell appeared to maintain his lead in polling, with polls throughout the spring showing him leading Fiorina in the primary and leading or even with Boxer in the general election. However, Fiorina surged into the lead in May after dedicating a significant portion of her personal fortune, including a $5.5 million loan to her campaign, to a late advertising push. She additionally secured the endorsement of Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, who remained popular with rank-and-file Republican voters.

Polling Poll source Tom Campbell Carly Fiorina Chuck DeVore Other Undecided The Field Poll (report) Feb. 20 – March 1, 2009 298 ±3.6% — 31% 19% — 36% The Field Poll (report) Sept. 18 – October 6, 2009 373 ±4.5% — 21% 20% — 59% Los Angeles Times (report) Oct. 27 – November 3, 2009 499 — — 27% 27% 2% 40% The Field Poll (report) January 5–17, 2010 202 ±7.1% 30% 25% 6% — 39% PPIC (report) January 27, 2010 2,001 ±2.0% 27% 16% 8% 1% 48% M4 Strategies (report) February 26, 2010 427 — 32% 19% 11% — 39% Research 2000 (report) March 10, 2010 400 ±5.0% 33% 24% 7% — 36% PPIC (report) March 24, 2010 2,002 ±2.0% 23% 24% 8% 1% 44% Los Angeles Times (report) March 23–30, 2010 1,515 ±2.6% 29% 25% 9% 4% 33% Survey USA (report) April 19–21, 2010 538 ±4.3% 34% 27% 14% 3% 23% Survey USA (report) May 6–9, 2010 548 ±4.3% 35% 24% 15% 3% 23% Research 2000 (report) May 17–19, 2010 400 ±5.0% 37% 22% 14% — 27% PPIC (report) May 9–16, 2010 1,168 ±3.0% 23% 25% 16% — 36% Public Policy Polling (report) May 21–23, 2010 417 ±4.8% 21% 41% 16% — 18% Survey USA (report) May 21–23, 2010 612 ±4.3% 23% 46% 14% 6% 11% Los Angeles Times (report) May 19–26, 2010 1,506 ±2.6% 23% 38% 16% 23% Survey USA (report) June 3–6, 2010 569 ±4.2% 22% 48% 16% 9%

Results

Third party primaries

Candidates American Independent Don Grundmann, chiropractor and American Independent nominee for the U.S. Senate in 2006 Edward Noonan, small-business owner Al Salehi, political analyst

Green Duane Roberts, community volunteer

Libertarian Gail Lightfoot, retired nurse

Peace and Freedom Marsha Feinland, retired teacher and Peace and Freedom nominee for president in 1996

General election

Candidates The following were certified by the California secretary of state as candidates in the general election for senator.

Barbara Boxer (Democratic), incumbent U.S. senator Marsha Feinland (Peace and Freedom), retired teacher and Peace and Freedom nominee for president in 1996 Carly Fiorina (Republican), former CEO of Hewlett-Packard Gail Lightfoot (Libertarian), retired nurse Edward Noonan (American Independent Party), small-business owner Duane Roberts (Green), community volunteer

Campaign Boxer criticized Fiorina's choice "to become a CEO, lay off 30,000 workers, ship jobs overseas [and] have two yachts." A spokesman for Fiorina responded that the Fiorinas were a two-yacht family because they spent time in both California and Washington, D.C. Boxer also claimed that Fiorina "skirted the law" by selling equipment to Iran during her tenure as HP's CEO, also claiming that the equipment may have ended up in the hands of the Iranian military.

Debate The only debate took place on September 1 at Saint Mary's College of California in Moraga. It was sponsored by the San Francisco Chronicle, KTVU, and KQED.

+ 2010 United States Senate election in California debate Date Host Moderator Link Democratic RepublicanKey: Participant  Absent  Not invited  Invited Withdrawn Boxer Fiorina1 Sep. 1, 2010 KQED-FMKTVUSan Francisco Chronicle Randy Shandobil C-SPAN

Predictions Source Ranking As of Cook Political Report October 26, 2010 Rothenberg October 22, 2010 RealClearPolitics October 26, 2010 Sabato's Crystal Ball October 21, 2010 CQ Politics October 26, 2010

Polling