The 1994 United States Senate election in California was held November 8, 1994. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator
Dianne Feinstein
Dianne Emiel Feinstein (; June 22, 1933 – September 29, 2023) was an American politician who served as a United States senator from California from 1992 until her death in 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as the 38th ...
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.
Democratic primary
Candidates
*Ted J. Andromedas, Los Angeles sales consultant
*
Dianne Feinstein
Dianne Emiel Feinstein (; June 22, 1933 – September 29, 2023) was an American politician who served as a United States senator from California from 1992 until her death in 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as the 38th ...
, incumbent Senator since 1992
*Daniel O'Dowd, founder and president of
Green Hills Software
Green Hills Software is a privately owned company that builds operating systems and programming tools for embedded systems. The firm was founded in 1982 by Dan O'Dowd and Carl Rosenberg. Its headquarters are in Santa Barbara, California.
Histor ...
Results
Republican primary
Candidates
*John M. Brown,
Stockton Stockton may refer to:
Places Australia
* Stockton, New South Wales
* Stockton, Queensland, a locality in the Cassowary Coast Region
New Zealand
*Stockton, New Zealand
United Kingdom
* Stockton, Cheshire
*Stockton, Norfolk
* Stockton, Chi ...
salesman
[
*Wolf G. Dalichau, ]Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
baker[
* William E. Dannemeyer, former U.S. Representative from Fullerton and candidate for Senate in 1992
*]Michael Huffington
Roy Michael Huffington Jr. (born September 3, 1947) is an American politician, LGBT activist, and film producer. He was a member of the Republican Party, and a congressman for one term, 1993–1995, from California. Huffington was married to A ...
, U.S. Representative from Santa Barbara
*Kate Squires, Corona
Corona (from the Latin for 'crown') most commonly refers to:
* Stellar corona, the outer atmosphere of the Sun or another star
* Corona (beer), a Mexican beer
* Corona, informal term for the coronavirus or disease responsible for the COVID-19 ...
attorney and businesswoman[
]
Results
Other nominations
Peace & Freedom Party
Libertarian Party
American Independent Party
Green Party
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.
General election
Candidates
* Elizabeth Cervantes Barron, San Jose special education teacher[ (Peace and Freedom)
* Barbara Blong, ]San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
teacher[ (Green)
* Richard Benjamin Boddie, ]Huntington Beach
Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County, California, United States. The city was originally called Pacific City, but it was changed in 1903 to be named after American businessman Henry E. Huntington. The population was 198,711 as o ...
public speaker[ (Libertarian)
* ]Dianne Feinstein
Dianne Emiel Feinstein (; June 22, 1933 – September 29, 2023) was an American politician who served as a United States senator from California from 1992 until her death in 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as the 38th ...
, incumbent U.S. Senator (Democratic)
* Michael Huffington
Roy Michael Huffington Jr. (born September 3, 1947) is an American politician, LGBT activist, and film producer. He was a member of the Republican Party, and a congressman for one term, 1993–1995, from California. Huffington was married to A ...
, U.S. Representative from Santa Barbara (Republican)
* Paul Meeuwenberg, Los Angeles marketing consultant[ (American Independent)
]
Campaign
After one term in the House representing Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo
; ; ; Chumashan languages, Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. Located on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly halfway betwee ...
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
Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington (; , ; born July 15, 1950) is a Greek American author, syndicated columnist and businesswoman. She is a co-founder of ''HuffPost'', the founder and CEO of Thrive Global, and the author of fifteen books. She ha ...
, 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
''The Almanac of American Politics'' is a reference work published biennially by Columbia Books & Information Services. It aims to provide a detailed look at the politics of the United States through an approach of profiling individual leaders a ...
'').
Huffington was called a hypocrite for supporting Proposition 187
California Proposition 187 (also known as the ''Save Our State'' (SOS) initiative) was a 1994 ballot initiative to establish a state-run citizenship screening system and prohibit illegal immigrants from using non-emergency health care, public ed ...
and then breaking the law for employing illegal aliens, a story which came out in the race's final days. $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
Christopher Michael Cillizza (; born February 20, 1976) is an American political commentator, who worked for the television news channel CNN from 2017 to 2022. Prior to joining CNN, he wrote for ''The Fix'', the daily political blog of ''The Wa ...
of ''The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' named the election one of the nastiest senate elections in modern history.
Results
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.
Overall
By county
Final results from the Secretary of State.
See also
* 1994 United States Senate elections
The 1994 United States Senate elections were held November 8, 1994, with the 33 seats of Class 1 contested in regular elections. Special elections were also held to fill vacancies. The Republican Party took control of the Senate from the Democ ...
References
External links
* JoinCaliforni
1994 General Election
{{United States elections, 1994
1994
The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations.
In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
1994 California elections
Dianne Feinstein