Two 2022 United States Senate elections in California were held concurrently on November 8, 2022, to elect a member of the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and po ...

to represent the

State of California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

. There were two ballot items for the same Class 3 seat: a special election to fill the seat for the final weeks of the

117th United States Congress The 117th United States Congress is the current meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It convened in Washington, D.C., ...

(ending on January 3, 2023), and a general election for a full term (beginning on the same day), starting in the

118th United States Congress The 118th United States Congress is the next meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It is scheduled to meet in Washing ...

. Incumbent Democratic Senator

Alex Padilla Alejandro Padilla ( ; born March 22, 1973) is an American politician serving as the junior United States senator from California since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Padilla served as the 30th secretary of state of California from ...

was appointed in 2021 by

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Gavin Newsom Gavin Christopher Newsom (born October 10, 1967) is an American politician and businessman who has been the 40th governor of California since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 49th lieutenant governor of California f ...

to fill the vacancy created by

Kamala Harris Kamala Devi Harris ( ; born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who is the 49th vice president of the United States. She is the first female vice president and the highest-ranking female official in U.S. history, as well ...

's election to the vice presidency, and he sought a full term. A

jungle primary A nonpartisan blanket primary is a primary election in which all candidates for the same elected office run against each other at once, regardless of the political party. Partisan elections are, on the other hand, segregated by political party ...

for each of the terms took place on June 7. The top two candidates in each primary election, regardless of party, advanced to the special and regular general elections in November. With his advancement out of the primary, Mark P. Meuser ( ) became the first Republican since

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

to advance to the general election, as both the

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

and 2018 Senate elections solely featured Democrats as the top two candidates. This race was a rematch between the two, as both had previously run for the Secretary of State in

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

. Padilla ultimately won both elections. Padilla became the first Latino elected to the U.S. Senate from California.

Candidates

Democratic Party

Advanced to general

, incumbent U.S. Senator (2021–present) and former

Secretary of State of California The secretary of state of California is the chief clerk of the U.S. state of California, overseeing a department of 500 people. The secretary of state is elected for four year terms, like the state's other constitutional officers; the officeh ...

(2015–2021)

Eliminated in primary

*Akinyemi Agbede, mathematician *Dan O'Dowd, founder and president of Green Hills Software and candidate for U.S. Senate in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...

*Douglas Howard Pierce, businessman and candidate for U.S. Senate in

*Obaidul Huq Pirjada, attorney *Timothy J. Ursich, doctor

Declined

Ro Khanna Rohit Khanna (; born September 13, 1976) is an American politician, lawyer, and academic serving as the U.S. representative from California's 17th congressional district since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he defeated eight-term incu ...

, U.S. Representative for

California's 17th congressional district California's 17th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of California that is currently represented by Ro Khanna. It is located in the South Bay and East Bay regions of the San Francisco Bay Area. The district i ...

(2017–present) ''(endorsed Padilla)''

Republican Party

Advanced to general

*Mark P. Meuser, attorney and candidate for California Secretary of State in

Eliminated in primary

*James P. Bradley, businessman, candidate for U.S. Senate in

, and candidate for in

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

*Jon Elist, small business owner *Myron L. Hall, physician *Sarah Sun Liew, entrepreneur *Robert George Lucero Jr., consultant *Enrique Petris, businessman *Chuck Smith, retired law enforcement officer *Carlos Guillermo Tapia, businessman *Cordie Williams, marine veteran and doctor *Lijun Zhou, businesswoman ''(write-in, general election only)''

Withdrawn

*Elizabeth Heng, candidate for in

and former U.S. House staffer ''( ran in the CA-22 special election)'' *Yvonne R. Girard, retired government employee ''(died)''

Green Party

Eliminated in primary

*James "Henk" Conn, educator and candidate for mayor of Long Beach in

*Pamela Elizondo, entrepreneur

Peace and Freedom Party

Eliminated in primary

* John Parker, candidate for U.S. Senate in

and

Workers World The Workers World Party (WWP) is a revolutionary Marxist–Leninist communist party founded in 1959 by a group led by Sam Marcy of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP). Marcy and his followers split from the SWP in 1958 over a series of long-stan ...

nominee for

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal gove ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight ...

''(running as write-in for special election)''

No party preference

Eliminated in primary

*Daphne Bradford, entrepreneur and candidate for president in

*Eleanor Garcia, industrial worker ( Socialist Workers Party) *Don J. Grundmann, chiropractor ( Constitution Party) *Deon D. Jenkins *Irene Ratliff ''(write-in, both general and special elections)'' *Marc Alexander Roth ''(write-in, general election only)'' *Mark A. Ruzon ''(write-in, general election only)'', software engineer (

American Solidarity Party The American Solidarity Party (ASP) is a Christian-democratic political party in the United States. It was founded in 2011 and officially incorporated in 2016. The party has a Solidarity National Committee (SNC) and has numerous active state ...

)

Endorsements

Primary elections

Campaign

Incumbent Senator

was appointed to the job in January 2021 following

's election to the office of

Vice President of the United States The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The vice p ...

. Following his appointment, Padilla quickly began to focus on his 2022 re-election campaign, as the fact that he has not been elected to the position means that he has a relatively low profile. Padilla's re-election strategy focuses on advocating for progressive policies and building ties with left-wing organizations that have a poor relationship with California's other Senator,

Dianne Feinstein Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein ( ; born Dianne Emiel Goldman; June 22, 1933) is an American politician who serves as the senior United States senator from California, a seat she has held since 1992. A member of the Democratic Party, she wa ...

. The potential Democratic opponent to Padilla considered most likely to join the race was U.S. Representative

, a staunchly left-wing Democrat who rose to prominence as the co-chair of the

Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign The 2020 presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders was an election campaign from the junior United States senator and former representative from Vermont. It began with Sanders's formal announcement on February 19, 2019. The announcement followe ...

, and who had a loyal base of support from California's

Asian-American Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous peopl ...

and

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/ racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...

communities. On August 9, 2021, Khanna announced that he would be endorsing Padilla for re-election, which was viewed as likely ending any possibility that Padilla would face a serious Democratic opponent. It was noted by the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The pa ...

'' that it was considered unlikely that Padilla would face any serious Republican opponent, as California's heavily Democratic lean has caused potentially strong candidates, such as U.S. Representatives Mike Garcia and Young Kim, to prefer to remain in their positions rather than launch a long-shot Senate run. In April 2022, billionaire businessman Dan O'Dowd entered the race, launching a $650,000 ad campaign. O'Dowd's goal with this ad buy, and with entering the race in the first place, was to "make computers safe for humanity" and draw the attention of the public and politicians to the dangers of Tesla's unfinished Full Self-Driving software being rolled out to 100,000 cars on public roads.

Special election blanket primary

Polling

Results

Regular election blanket primary

Polling

Results

General elections

Predictions

Polling

;Special election ;Regular election

Results

Notes

References

External links

;Official campaign websites
Mark Meuser (R) for Senate

Alex Padilla (D) for Senate
{{2022 United States elections

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

California 2022

California Senate The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature, the lower house being the California State Assembly. The State Senate convenes, along with the State Assembly, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. D ...

United States Senate 2022

Candidates

Democratic Party

Advanced to general

Eliminated in primary

Declined

Republican Party

Advanced to general

Eliminated in primary

Withdrawn

Green Party

Eliminated in primary

Peace and Freedom Party

Eliminated in primary

No party preference

Eliminated in primary

Endorsements

Primary elections

Campaign

Special election blanket primary

Polling

Results

Regular election blanket primary

Polling

Results

General elections

Predictions

Polling

Results

See also

Notes

References

External links