An environmental attorney and rancher from Bolinas is trailing the field of contenders in the first primary election for California’s newly redrawn Second Congressional District.
Democratic incumbent Jared Huffman meanwhile cruised to a commanding lead in the race for a sprawling district that links his deep blue base with some of the most conservative counties in Northern California.
Nicolette Hahn Niman, who ran with no party preference, was in seventh place on Wednesday morning, with just 5 percent of the districtwide vote.
Election officials are still tabulating mail-in ballots, but Mr. Huffman, of San Rafael, had 50.4 percent of the districtwide vote on Wednesday. Republican Robin Littau—a self-described Christian single mother, Coast Guard veteran, small-business owner, and school board member from Redding—was a distant second, with 12.7 percent. Three Republicans and a Democrat, Rose Penelope Yee, from Shasta County followed.
Ms. Hahn Niman had been regarded by some as Mr. Huffman’s most formidable challenger. But no-party-preference candidates have rarely broken through in California’s congressional primaries, and this contest proved no exception.
Under California’s top-two primary system, the two highest vote-getters advance to November regardless of party. If Mr. Huffman, who has won all his previous general election contests with more than 70 percent of the vote, prevails in the fall, he will begin his eighth term in Congress.
At an election-night party for Ms. Hahn Niman held in a converted barn in Nicasio, the mood was solemn even as musicians played lively bluegrass. Ms. Hahn Niman said the early returns reflected the country’s deep political polarization, with voters supporting candidates down the ticket based on party affiliation.
“A lot of these people who are doing well barely ran a campaign,” she said. “It shows it’s based purely on the R beside their name.”
The race was the first held under the new maps approved by California voters last fall under Proposition 50. The measure replaced the state’s independent-commission-drawn congressional lines with a map drawn by state lawmakers for use through the end of the decade, part of a Democratic effort to counter Republican gerrymandering in Texas. The redrawn Second District added Shasta, Siskiyou, and Modoc Counties, where Republicans outnumber Democrats by wide margins.
In West Marin, early returns showed strong support for two local tax measures.
In Bolinas, Measure L, a renewal and increase of a parcel tax supporting the Mesa and downtown parks, was well above the two-thirds threshold required for passage. Of 227 votes counted by Wednesday morning, 174 voters, or 76.7 percent, supported the measure.
In Muir Beach, Measure M, a parcel tax increase for the town’s volunteer fire services, also appeared headed for approval. Forty-eight voters, or 85.7 percent, supported the measure.
Countywide, Measure B was also leading by a wide margin. The measure would extend SMART’s quarter-cent sales tax for 30 years without raising the rate. The tax, approved by voters in 2008 and set to expire in 2029, generates about $51 million a year and provides the bulk of the rail agency’s budget. Early returns showed 70.7 percent of voters supporting the measure, which needs only a simple majority to pass.
Assemblyman Damon Connolly held a commanding lead in the state senate’s District 2 race, with 67.8 percent of the districtwide vote. In the District 12 assembly race, Eric Lucan led in Marin, but districtwide returns showed Republican Eryn Cervantes narrowly ahead, with 25.8 percent of the vote to Mr. Lucan’s 24.1 percent.
Initial results include votes that were cast in person at vote centers on Election Day and mail-in ballots that arrived in the first few weeks of voting. But most of the ballots that last-minute voters submitted in envelopes likely won’t be counted until later in the week.
In the 2024 primary, about half of results were reported by 8 a.m. Eastern time the day after the election. It took 10 days before 95 percent of results were reported. But that delay could be compounded this time by the fact that many voters seem to have waited until the end to submit their ballots, in part because they were unsure whom to support in the volatile governor’s race.
In that race, 61 candidates vied to succeed term-limited Democratic governor Gavin Newsom. Early statewide returns showed Republican commentator and one-time Tory Steve Hilton and Democrat Xavier Becerra leading the field, with left-leaning billionaire Tom Steyer trailing in third. In Marin, Mr. Steyer led the pack with 29.2 percent of the vote. Mr. Becerra had 28.2 percent of the vote and Mr. Hilton had 19.4 percent.