Elections were held in California on February 5, 2008. Presidential primaries and a special election for a State Assembly seat were among the contests held. Seven ballot propositions were also decided on.
Presidential primaries Key: Withdrew prior to contest
American Independent presidential primary Three candidates were on the ballot of the American Independent Party, a state political party.
California American Independence presidential primary, 2008CandidateVotesPercentage Donald Grundmann 16,603 36.08% Diane Templin 15,302 33.25% Mad Max Riekse 14,099 30.64% David Larson (write-in) 18 0.04% Totals 46,022 100.00% Voter turnout —
Democratic presidential primary
California Democratic presidential primary, 2008CandidateVotesPercentageNational delegates Hillary Clinton 2,608,184 51.47% 204 Barack Obama 2,186,662 43.16% 166 John Edwards 193,617 3.82% 0 Dennis Kucinich 24,126 0.48% 0 Bill Richardson 19,939 0.39% 0 Joe Biden 18,261 0.36% 0 Mike Gravel 8,184 0.16% 0 Christopher Dodd 8,005 0.16% 0 Willie Carter (write-in) 4 0.00% 0 Eric Hinzman (write-in) 4 0.00% 0 Phil Epstein (write-in) 3 0.00% 0 Brian Calef (write-in) 2 0.00% 0 David Frey (write-in) 1 0.00% 0 Joseph McAndrew (write-in) 1 0.00% 0 Keith Judd (write-in) 0 0.00% 0 Julius Mogyorossy (write-in) 0 0.00% 0 Totals 5,066,993 100.00% 370 Voter turnout — —
Green presidential primary Seven candidates participated in the Green Party's presidential primary, which is a non-binding contest.
California Green presidential primary, 2008CandidateVotesPercentageNational delegates Ralph Nader 21,726 60.61% 102 Cynthia McKinney 9,534 26.60% 45 Elaine Brown 1,598 4.46% 7 Kat Swift 1,084 3.02% 5 Kent Mesplay 727 2.03% 3 Jesse Johnson 619 1.73% 3 Jared Ball 556 1.55% 3 Totals 35,844 100.00% 168 Voter turnout 28.21% —
Libertarian presidential primary California Libertarian presidential primary, 2008CandidateVotesPercentage Christine Smith 4,241 25.16% Steve Kubby 2,876 17.06% Wayne Root 2,360 14.00% Bob Jackson 1,486 8.81% Barry Hess 891 5.29% George Phillies 852 5.05% Michael Jingozian 774 4.59% Robert Milnes 721 4.28% Daniel Imperato 707 4.19% John Finan 706 4.19% Dave Hollist 678 4.02% Alden Link 565 3.35% Leon Ray (write-in) 1 0.01% Totals 16,858 100.00% Voter turnout 20.96%
Peace and Freedom presidential primary Seven candidates participated in the Peace and Freedom presidential primary, a non-binding "beauty contest". Ralph Nader received a plurality of the votes, followed by Gloria La Riva and Cynthia McKinney. Stewart Alexander was nominated to be Socialist Party candidate Brian Moore's running mate in October 2007, but remained on the Peace and Freedom ballot.
California Peace and Freedom presidential primary, 2008CandidateVotesPercentage Ralph Nader 2,620 40.66% Cynthia McKinney 1,385 21.49% Gloria La Riva 1,292 20.05% Brian Moore 355 5.51% John Crockford 346 5.37% Stewart Alexander 340 5.28% Stanley Hetz 106 1.64% Totals 6,444 100.00% Voter turnout 11.27%
Republican presidential primary
California Republican presidential primary, 2008CandidateVotesPercentageNational delegates John McCain 1,238,988 42.25% 116 Mitt Romney 1,013,471 34.56% 3 Mike Huckabee 340,669 11.62% 0 Rudy Giuliani 128,681 4.39% 0 Ron Paul 125,365 4.27% 0 Fred Thompson 50,275 1.71% 0 Duncan Hunter 14,021 0.48% 0 Alan Keyes 11,742 0.40% 0 John Cox 3,219 0.11% 0 Tom Tancredo 3,884 0.13% 0 Sam Brownback 2,486 0.08% 0 Karen Irish (write-in) 6 0.00% 0 Michael Shaw (write-in) 2 0.00% 0 Edward Marshall (write-in) 1 0.00% 0 Joel Neuberg (write-in) 1 0.00% 0 Robert Brickell (write-in) 0 0.00% 0 Brian Calef (write-in) 0 0.00% 0 David Frey (write-in) 0 0.00% 0 Walter Rothnie (write-in) 0 0.00% 0 John Sutherland (write-in) 0 0.00% 0 Totals 2,932,811 100.00% 119 Voter turnout 56.08% —
Propositions Proposition 91
Proposition 91 sought to amend the California Constitution to prohibit motor vehicle fuel sales taxes that are earmarked for transportation purposes from being retained in the state's General Fund.
Proposition 92
Proposition 92 sought to amend Proposition 98 of 1988, which sets a mandate for the minimum level of funding each year for elementary and secondary schools and community colleges.
Proposition 93
Proposition 93 sought to change the term limits for members of the California State Legislature in both the State Assembly and State Senate.
Proposition 94
Proposition 94 sought to expand the Indian Gaming Compact with the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Mission Indians.
Proposition 95
Proposition 95 sought to expand the Indian Gaming Compact with the Morongo Band of Mission Indians.
Proposition 96
Proposition 96 sought to expand the Indian Gaming Compact with the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation.
Proposition 97
Proposition 97 sought to expand the Indian Gaming Compact with the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians.
55th State Assembly district special election The seat of California's 55th State Assembly district was vacated by Assemblymember Laura Richardson, who won a special election to fill California's 37th congressional district on June 26, 2007. The congressional district was vacant after Juanita Millender-McDonald died of cancer on April 22, 2007.
Primary election A primary election for the special election was held on December 11, 2007. Since no candidate won a majority, the candidates with the top votes for each party appeared on the ballots for the special election.
Special election
Notes Voter turnout information is listed where applicable. Turnout information is not available for the American Independent or Democratic primaries because both parties allowed Decline to State voters to participate. There were a total of 328,261 eligible registered voters registered with the American Independent Party, 6,749,406 with the Democratic Party, and 3,043,164 who declined to state. There was a total of 15,712,753 eligible registered voters regardless of party affiliation in the entire state.
See also Political party strength in California Political party strength in U.S. states
References
External links February 2008 Statewide Election Results from the California Secretary of State