Both parties had high hopes for California in the midterms. Neither saw its dreams fully come true. But it is impossible to fault the Democratic Party for trying hard this year. The state is one of the few bright spots on a historically dismal electoral map: The GOP will be holding the governor’s office and several statehouse offices, as well as some big congressional seats. It is also worth noting that despite Republicans doing better in some places, some Democratic areas are still in play, too, including the California 26 congressional seats. California will also play a crucial role in the outcome of the Senate race, where Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi would be up for reelection, and a Democratic challenger could win.
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Democrats were hoping they would pick up a few new seats in California, especially on the coast, where the GOP has done well. There can be no greater contrast with what happened here in 2006, when Democrats won both the governor’s race and nearly all the statewide offices, only to lose those offices back to Republicans for a few months until Democrats were able to get their act together and retake all statewide offices.
That’s why there were so many signs that the party is trying hard to retake its footing here, and why it was so gratifying to see what happened there in the midterms. This year, Democrats did lose the governor’s race to Republican Jerry Brown, but they added two key candidates to other statewide offices and picked up a handful of seats in the state legislature. They also picked up a few state legislative seats and won a few congressional seats and a handful of local, county and judicial elections.
“California does look brighter than ever this morning. And what happened in California last week in special elections shows that Democrats have the energy and the political will to turn the page on history and keep California moving forward,” said California Democratic Party Chairman Eric Bauman.
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In the state assembly, Democrats are very pleased with their gains, especially with the addition of
