The 2018 United States Senate election in California took place on November 6, 2018, 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 pow ...

to represent

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 ...

, concurrently with other elections to the United States Senate,

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative ...

to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

, and various

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

and local elections. Under California's non-partisan blanket primary law, all candidates appear on the same ballot, regardless of party. In the primary, voters may vote for any candidate, regardless of their party affiliation. In the California system, the top two finishers — regardless of party — advance to the general election in November, even if a candidate receives a majority of the votes cast in the primary election.

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

and

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

have similar "

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 ...

" style processes for U.S. Senate elections, as does

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

for U.S. Senate special elections. The candidate filing deadline was March 8, 2018, and the primary election was held on June 5, 2018. Four-term Democratic

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seeking re-ele ...

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 ...

won re-election in

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 ...

with 63% of the vote, taking the record for the most popular votes in any U.S. Senate election in history, with 7.86 million votes. Feinstein, at the time, was the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. She turned 85 years old in 2018, leading some to speculate that she would retire in January 2019, as her long-time colleague Barbara Boxer did in January 2017. However, Feinstein ran for reelection to her fifth consecutive term, winning 44.2% of the vote in the top-two primary; she faced Democratic challenger Kevin De León in the general election, who won 12.1% of the primary vote. For the second time since direct elections to the Senate began after the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, no Republican appeared on the general election ballot for U.S. Senate in California. The highest Republican finisher in the primary won only 8.3 percent of the vote, and the 10 Republicans only won 31.2 percent of the vote among them. In the general election,

Feinstein Feinstein, Finestein ( yi, פֿײַנשטײַן, he, פיינשטיין, russian: Файнштейн, "Fajnsztajn", "Fajnsztejn" in Polish spelling) or anglicized as Finestone, meaning "fine stone", that is gemstone, is a compound surname of G ...

defeated De León by an eight-point margin, 54% to 46%. This was Feinstein's closest election since

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; Nelson ...

Candidates

Democratic Party

Declared

Kevin de León Kevin Alexander Leon (born December 10, 1966), known professionally as Kevin de León and colloquially as KDL, is an American politician serving as the Los Angeles City Council member for district 14 since 2020. A member of the Democratic Party, ...

, President pro tempore of the California State Senate * Adrienne Nicole Edwards, Vice Chairwoman on the HDT Community Development Foundation board *

, incumbent U.S. Senator * Pat Harris, attorney * Alison Hartson, national director of Wolf PAC * David Hildebrand, legislative analyst * Herbert G. Peters, retired aerospace engineer and candidate for U.S Senate in California in 2016 * Douglas Howard Pierce * Gerald Plummer * Donnie O. Turner, Air Force veteran

Withdrawn

* Topher Brennan *

John Melendez John Edward Melendez (born October 4, 1965), also known as Stuttering John, is an American radio personality, comedian, singer, actor, television writer, announcer, and podcast host. He is best known for being on ''The Howard Stern Show'' from ...

, television writer and radio personality * Steve Stokes, candidate for the U.S. Senate in

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 ...

Declined

* Ana Kasparian, co-host of ''

The Young Turks ''The Young Turks'' (TYT) is an American progressive news commentary show on YouTube that additionally appears on selected television channels. TYT serves as the flagship program of the TYT Network, a multi-channel network of associated web s ...

'' * Joe Sanberg, entrepreneur and investor *

Tom Steyer Thomas Fahr Steyer (born June 27, 1957) is an American climate investor, businessman, hedge fund manager, philanthropist, environmentalist, and liberal activist. Steyer is the co-founder and co-chair of Galvanize Climate Solutions, founder and ...

, hedge fund manager *

Cenk Uygur Cenk Kadir Uygur ( ; ; born March 21, 1970) is a Turkish-American progressive political commentator, media host, attorney, journalist, and politician. Uygur is the creator of ''The Young Turks'', an American left-wing, sociopolitical, progressi ...

, host of ''The Young Turks''

Republican Party

Declared

* Arun K. Bhumitra, businessman * James P. Bradley, businessman * Jack Crew, bus driver * Erin Cruz, published author *

Rocky De La Fuente Roque "Rocky" De La Fuente Guerra (born October 10, 1954) is an American businessman and politician. A perennial candidate, De La Fuente was the Reform Party nominee in the 2016 and 2020 United States presidential elections. He also appeared on ...

, entrepreneur and perennial candidate * Jerry Joseph Laws, candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2016 * Patrick Little, neo-Nazi and Holocaust denier * Kevin Mottus, candidate for the U.S Senate in 2016 * Mario Nabliba, scientist * Tom Palzer, activist, retired city planner and candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2016 * Paul Allen Taylor, businessman

Withdrawn

* Donald R. Adams, businessman * Gary Coson * John Estrada * Timothy Charles Kalemkarian,

perennial candidate A perennial candidate is a political candidate who frequently runs for elected office and rarely, if ever, wins. Perennial candidates' existence lies in the fact that in some countries, there are no laws that limit a number of times a person can ...

* Ernie Konnyu, former U.S. Representative * Caren Lancona, businesswoman * Jazmina Saavedra, businesswoman and activist * Stephen James Schrader, veteran

Declined

* Kevin Faulconer,

Mayor of San Diego The mayor of the City of San Diego is the official head and chief executive officer of the U.S. city of San Diego, California. The mayor has the duty to enforce and execute the laws enacted by the San Diego City Council, the legislative branch. ...

* Caitlyn Jenner, 1976 Olympic gold medalist and television personality * Arnold Schwarzenegger, actor and former Governor of California * Ashley Swearengin, former Mayor of

Fresno Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...

Libertarian Party

Declared

* Derrick Michael Reid, retired attorney and engineer and candidate for president in 2016

Green Party

Declared

* Michael V. Ziesing (write-in)http://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov//statewide-elections/2018-primary/cert-list-write-in-candidates.pdf

Peace and Freedom Party

Declared

* John Thompson Parker

No party preference

Declared

* Colleen Shea Fernald, perennial candidate * Tim Gildersleeve, businessman and researcher * Rash Bihari Ghosh * Michael Fahmy Girgis * Don J. Grundmann, California Constitution Party chairman and perennial candidate ( Constitution Party) * Jason M. Hanania * David Moore ( Socialist Equality Party) * Lee W. Olson * Ursula M. Schilling (write-in) * Ling Ling Shi, evangelist

Withdrawn

* Jerry Leon Carroll *

Michael Eisen Michael Bruce Eisen (born April 13, 1967) is an American computational biologist and the editor-in-chief of the journal eLife. He is a professor of genetics, genomics and development at University of California, Berkeley. He is a leading advocate o ...

, biologist * Charles Junior Hodge * Richard Thomas Mead * Clifton Roberts (Humane Party)

Notes

Primary election

Endorsements

Fundraising

Polling

;with Timothy Charles Kalemkarian, Caren Lancona, John Melendez, and Stephen Schrader ;with Tom Steyer ;with John Cox ;with Xavier Becerra, Kevin Faulconer, Brad Sherman, Eric Swalwell, and Ashley Swearingin

Results

Democratic candidates won a combined total of 4,231,444, Republican candidates 2,216,223 votes, and other candidates 223,053 votes.

General election

Debates

Complete video of debate
October 17, 2018

Endorsements

Fundraising

Predictions

Because of California's top-two runoff system, the seat was guaranteed to be won/held by a Democrat since the initial primary produced two Democratic candidates.

Polling

;with Feinstein, de León, and Tom Steyer ;with Feinstein, de León, and John Cox

Results

The race had an

undervote An undervote occurs when the number of distinct choices selected by a voter in a contest is less than the maximum number allowed for that contest or when no selection is made for a single choice contest. In a contested election, an undervote can be ...

of around 1.3 million votes compared to the

gubernatorial election 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 ...

, likely by Republican voters choosing neither candidate. De León won many of the same counties and congressional districts won by Republican gubernatorial nominee John Cox, as many voters may have expressed opposition to the incumbent senator. No county voted for both Feinstein and Cox. Congressional districts 39, 45, and 48 were the only congressional districts that voted for both Feinstein and Cox.https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/sov/2018-general/ssov/governor-congressional.pdf

Results by county

Results by county. Cyan represents counties won by de León.

References

External links

Candidates
at

Vote Smart Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected officials in s ...

Candidates
at Ballotpedia
Campaign finance
at FEC
Campaign finance
at

OpenSecrets OpenSecrets is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that tracks data on campaign finance and lobbying. It was created from a merger of the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) and the National Institute on Money in Politics (NIMP) ...

;Official campaign websites
Dianne Feinstein (D) for Senate

Kevin de León (D) for Senate
{{2018 United States elections

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