1994 United States Senate election in California
County resultsFeinstein: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80%Huffington: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70%
The 1994 United States Senate election in California was held November 8, 1994. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein won re-election to her first full term. By a margin of 1.9%, this election was the closest race of the 1994 Senate election cycle. This election was the first time ever that an incumbent Democratic Senator from California was re-elected or won re-election to this seat.
Peace & Freedom Party[ edit ]
American Independent Party [ edit ]
While there was no primary election for the Green Party, Barbara Blong got the nomination of the party and represented them in the general election.
After one term in the House representing Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, Huffington spent $8 million by the end of August and a total of $28 million during the entire campaign. He became wealthy off oil and gas. The race saw personal attacks on Huffington's wife, Arianna Huffington , who was very involved in the race (the media dubbed her the "Sir Edmund Hillary of social climbing," according to The Almanac of American Politics ).
Huffington was called a hypocrite for supporting Proposition 187 and then breaking the law for employing illegal aliens, a story which came out in the race's final days.[ 4] $44 million was spent in the election. At the time, it was the most expensive campaign in a non-presidential election in American history. Chris Cillizza of The Washington Post named the election one of the nastiest senate elections in modern history.[ 5]
On election day it was a very close race, but Feinstein won Los Angeles County, which may have pulled her ahead. Her sizable win in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area may also be credited to her slim statewide victory. A large number of absentee ballots left the results in doubt for over two weeks. On November 18, Senator Feinstein declared victory. At that time, she was ahead by 147,404 votes, with only 156,210 remaining uncounted ballots.[ 6] Huffington had not conceded at that point, saying that there was evidence of voter fraud and calling for an investigation. He had already filed a legal complaint, which had already been dismissed.[ 6] As of December 23, Huffington still contended that there may have been voting fraud and had not conceded.[ 7]
Final results from the Secretary of State .[ 8]
County
Feinstein
Votes
Huffington
Votes
Barron
Votes
Boddie
Votes
Others
Votes
San Francisco
79.16%
185,543
15.39%
36,083
1.90%
4,452
1.05%
2,472
2.50%
5,854
Marin
70.86%
74,664
24.42%
25,733
1.31%
1,380
1.39%
1,462
2.02%
2,125
Alameda
68.34%
271,456
25.21%
100,120
2.35%
9,323
1.45%
5,778
2.65%
10,539
San Mateo
64.24%
136,686
29.94%
63,702
2.05%
4,362
1.50%
3,187
2.28%
4,850
Contra Costa
57.94%
170,256
36.02%
105,854
2.06%
6,056
1.51%
4,437
2.47%
7,268
Sonoma
57.53%
91,164
34.04%
53,938
2.94%
4,653
2.01%
3,178
3.48%
5,519
Santa Cruz
57.07%
52,056
32.31%
29,466
3.96%
3,613
2.49%
2,267
4.17%
3,807
Santa Clara
55.79%
245,232
35.93%
157,922
2.96%
13,029
2.14%
9,403
3.18%
13,983
Yolo
54.87%
26,793
36.56%
17,851
3.18%
1,553
1.86%
906
3.54%
1,729
Los Angeles
51.53%
1,046,026
40.38%
819,594
3.35%
67,993
1.97%
39,952
2.78%
56,332
Solano
51.01%
49,920
41.03%
40,158
2.90%
2,834
1.68%
1,645
3.38%
3,312
Napa
50.73%
21,340
41.33%
17,388
2.33%
982
1.82%
766
3.78%
1,592
Mendocino
50.27%
15,008
39.90%
11,912
3.20%
955
2.72%
812
3.92%
1,169
Sacramento
47.85%
168,073
43.88%
154,128
2.85%
9,994
1.84%
6,446
3.58%
12,584
Santa Barbara
47.16%
60,811
43.29%
55,825
2.84%
3,664
2.29%
2,956
4.41%
5,686
Alpine
46.72%
313
42.09%
282
4.93%
33
2.24%
15
4.03%
27
Monterey
46.52%
42,246
43.94%
39,905
4.20%
3,814
1.55%
1,411
3.79%
3,439
Humboldt
46.04%
21,817
43.77%
20,742
2.54%
1,202
2.31%
1,093
5.35%
2,534
Lake
44.76%
8,675
46.66%
9,043
2.32%
449
2.33%
451
3.94%
763
San Benito
40.89%
4,735
47.28%
5,476
5.32%
616
2.13%
247
4.38%
507
San Joaquin
39.89%
50,218
52.00%
65,466
2.88%
3,622
1.55%
1,954
3.69%
4,646
Fresno
39.70%
69,892
52.73%
92,818
3.33%
5,866
1.38%
2,426
2.86%
5,033
Tuolumne
39.54%
7,693
52.26%
10,169
2.46%
479
2.11%
410
3.63%
706
Merced
39.02%
15,092
52.67%
20,372
3.44%
1,329
1.59%
616
3.29%
1,272
Stanislaus
38.93%
38,414
51.91%
51,224
3.21%
3,169
1.68%
1,658
4.27%
4,217
Ventura
38.57%
82,472
50.98%
108,993
3.59%
7,671
2.70%
5,773
4.16%
8,891
San Luis Obispo
38.36%
32,777
51.83%
44,285
2.74%
2,345
2.49%
2,127
4.57%
3,905
Imperial
38.33%
9,086
49.46%
11,724
7.32%
1,735
1.38%
328
3.51%
832
Amador
38.25%
4,950
53.32%
6,900
1.94%
251
2.23%
288
4.26%
551
San Diego
37.82%
279,249
53.17%
392,529
3.08%
22,745
2.48%
18,314
3.45%
25,441
Nevada
37.37%
13,987
53.64%
20,076
2.06%
771
2.73%
1,023
4.19%
1,570
Placer
36.93%
27,934
54.28%
41,058
2.33%
1,759
2.20%
1,666
4.27%
3,231
El Dorado
36.77%
19,888
54.37%
29,402
2.05%
1,109
2.46%
1,331
4.35%
2,352
Plumas
36.53%
3,082
54.03%
4,559
2.71%
229
2.61%
220
4.12%
348
Mono
35.98%
1,263
53.25%
1,869
2.42%
85
2.48%
87
5.87%
206
Mariposa
35.53%
2,520
55.20%
3,915
2.23%
158
2.26%
160
4.78%
339
Calaveras
35.17%
5,467
54.30%
8,441
2.32%
360
2.90%
450
5.31%
826
Siskiyou
34.58%
6,256
55.50%
10,040
2.92%
529
2.59%
468
4.41%
798
Del Norte
34.51%
2,553
56.16%
4,154
2.16%
160
2.22%
164
4.95%
366
Butte
34.45%
23,317
57.03%
38,600
2.64%
1,789
2.20%
1,492
3.68%
2,490
Sierra
34.25%
548
54.31%
869
3.06%
49
3.94%
63
4.44%
71
Kings
33.98%
7,592
56.96%
12,725
3.79%
846
1.45%
323
3.82%
854
Riverside
33.95%
115,333
56.11%
190,615
3.41%
11,582
2.58%
8,755
3.96%
13,438
San Bernardino
33.34%
114,027
55.95%
191,343
3.73%
12,752
2.89%
9,876
4.09%
13,986
Madera
32.56%
8,613
59.26%
15,675
2.84%
750
1.71%
452
3.63%
960
Lassen
32.44%
2,639
56.51%
4,597
2.83%
230
2.79%
227
5.43%
442
Orange
31.88%
239,010
58.87%
441,398
2.71%
20,308
2.92%
21,901
3.62%
27,175
Trinity
31.87%
1,703
54.53%
2,914
3.71%
198
3.89%
208
6.01%
321
Tulare
31.45%
24,244
59.77%
46,074
3.72%
2,871
1.76%
1,359
3.29%
2,535
Yuba
29.70%
4,158
59.75%
8,365
3.06%
429
2.44%
341
5.05%
707
Colusa
29.34%
1,449
63.29%
3,126
2.77%
137
1.48%
73
3.12%
154
Tehama
27.94%
5,142
61.55%
11,329
2.84%
522
2.67%
492
5.00%
921
Shasta
27.83%
15,077
62.99%
34,129
2.51%
1,362
2.21%
1,200
4.46%
2,417
Sutter
27.23%
5,958
65.09%
14,242
2.55%
559
1.63%
357
3.50%
766
Kern
26.63%
39,987
63.61%
95,504
3.43%
5,153
2.15%
3,229
4.17%
6,259
Inyo
25.96%
1,841
64.95%
4,606
2.51%
178
2.14%
152
4.44%
315
Modoc
24.77%
951
63.72%
2,447
2.55%
98
3.23%
124
5.73%
220
Glenn
24.68%
1,956
67.51%
5,351
2.01%
159
1.63%
129
4.18%
331
Shift by county Trend by county
Republican — >15%
Republican — +12.5−15%
Republican — +10−12.5%
Republican — +7.5−10%
Republican — +5−7.5%
Republican — +2.5−5%
Republican — +0−2.5%
Democratic — +0−2.5%
Democratic — +2.5−5%
Democratic — +5−7.5%
Democratic — +7.5-10%
Democratic — +10−12.5%
^ "Votes not cast" as a percentage of votes cast anywhere statewide, which numbered 8,900,593.[ 8]
^ As a percentage of the voting eligible population (VEP), estimated at 18.946 million.[ 8]
^ a b c d e f g h "Defying the Odds?" . The Los Angeles Times . p. 74. Retrieved May 26, 2023 .
^ a b c d e "1996 California Voter Information: Statement" . vote96.sos.ca.gov . Archived from the original on December 22, 2008. Retrieved January 15, 2022 .
^ "Citizen Kate: an Election Race Against Conventional Wisdom" . The Los Angeles Times . April 4, 1994. p. 59. Retrieved May 26, 2023 .
^ B. Drummond Ayres Jr. (October 27, 1994). "THE 1994 CAMPAIGN: CALIFORNIA; Huffington Admits Hiring Illegal Alien" . The New York Times .
^ Chris Cillizza (July 1, 2010). "The 10 nastiest Senate races" . The Washington Post The Fix blog.
^ a b B. Drummond Ayres Jr. (November 19, 1994). "THE NEW CONGRESS: CALIFORNIA; Feinstein Claims Victory in Senate Race" . The New York Times .
^ B. Drummond Ayres Jr. (December 26, 1994). "Nov. 8 Is Long Gone, but the California Election Lingers On, and On and On" . The New York Times .
^ a b c d Jones, Bill (December 16, 1994). "STATEMENT OF VOTE: November 8, 1994, General Election" (PDF) . Office of the California Secretary of State . p. xii,37. Retrieved November 17, 2020 .
^ Clerk of the United States House of Representatives . "STATISTICS OF THE CONGRESSIONAL ELECTION OF NOVEMBER 8, 1994" (PDF) . United States House of Representatives. p. 3,6. Retrieved November 16, 2020 .