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Cannella, Gray, Denham winners
Voters support water bond
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All the incumbents of local state offices were confirmed by the voters in Tuesday's general election.

State Senator Anthony Cannella, D-Ceres, handily fended off a challenge by Shawn K. Bagley, a Monterey Democrat, in the District 12 Senate contest. Cannella collected 54,039 votes, or 62 percent, to Bagley's 33,059 votes (38 percent).

In a hotly contested race for state Assembly, incumbent Adam Gray held onto his 21st Assembly District seat with 25,433 votes, or 52.4 percent. He outdistanced Republican Merced businessman Jack Mobley who received the support of 23,120 voters, or 47.8 percent.

Congressman Jeff Denham will return to Washington, D.C., after beating Turlock beekeeper Michael Eggman. Denham, a Turlock Republican who was first elected in 2009, received 47,315 votes (56.4 percent) to Eggman's 36,609 votes (43.6 percent).

Matt Beekman, who was uncontested in the Hughson mayor's race, received 760 votes with 113 voters who decided not to weigh in, probably since he was a shoo-in. Joining him on the Hughson City Council will be incumbent George Carr who amassed 549 votes (40.7 percent) and appointed incumbent Harold "Bud" Hill with 496 votes (36.77 percent). Challenger Billy Gonzales was disappointed with a third-place finish at 290 votes (21.5 percent).
Turlock elected a new mayor in Gary Soiseth over Mike Brem. Turlock voters also slayed a proposal to adopt a road tax.

Voters in Hughson and Keyes who are in the state Assembly District 12, weighed in on whether to keep Modesto Republican Kristin Olsen or replace her with Harinder Grewal of Keyes, an agricultural export specialist and CSUS economics lecturer. Olsen's popularity was evident in the lopsided victory over Grewal. Olsen collected 42,576 votes (67.3 percent) over Grewal's 20,683 votes (32.7 percent).

State Senator Tom Berryhill, who is currently in District 8 but running in the newly created District 8, won in his election against Paulina Miranda, a Democrat. Berryhill grew up in Ceres. Berryhill clobbered Miranda in a 66.8 percent to 33.2 percent outcome with Berryhill receiving 109,347 votes to Miranda's 54,466. The new Senate district will be vast in geography and while including Hughson, Turlock, Oakdale and Waterford, will also stretch from Rancho Cordova and Mammoth Lakes all the way down to Death Valley and Bishop.

In the governor's race, Jerry Brown was re-elected with 3,049,385 votes over Republican Neel Kashkari with 2,147,271 votes.

The race for lieutenant governor was much tighter for incumbent Gavin Newsom. He collected 2,856,458 votes (55.9 percent) over Republican Ron Nehring who received 44.1 percent of the vote (2,250,038 votes).

In the Secretary of State race, Democratic state senator Alex Padilla won with 2,647,758 votes (52.5 percent) over Pete Peterson, a Republican who is the executive director of the Davenport Institute. Peterson amassed 2,396,986 votes for 47.5 percent of the vote.

California State Attorney General Kamala Harris, a Democrat, handily defeated Republican Ronald Gold, a former deputy attorney general. Harris collected 2,858,461 votes (56.3 percent) to Gold's 2,222,395 votes (43.7 percent).

San Francisco Democrat Betty Yee, a member of the state Board of Equalization, was sent to the office of state controller with 2,650,965 votes (52.8 percent) over Ashley Swearengin, the Republican mayor of Fresno, who collected 2,374,530 votes (47.2 percent).

Current state controller John Chiang won his bid for the office of state treasurer against Greg Conlon, a Republican CPA. Chiang received 2,914,904 votes (57.7 percent) over Conlon's 2,140,404 (42.3 percent).

In the state insurance commissioner race, Democrat Dave Jones won with 2,817,654 votes (56.3 percent), over Republican Ted Gaines who collected 2,186,799 votes (43.7 percent).

Republican George Runner, the incumbent sitting in the District 1 Board of Equalization seat, was re-elected over Democrat Chris Parker. Runner collected 712,089 votes (58.8 percent) over Parker's 499,113 votes (41.2 percent).

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson, who visited Ceres High School this year, won over challenger Marshall Tuck. Torlakson received 2,266,425 votes (52.1 percent) over Tuck's 2,084,936 count (47.9 percent).

California voters also passed Prop. 1, the water bond measure, by a margin of 66.8 percent to 33.2 percent. They also liked Prop. 2, the State Budget Stabilization Account, by a bigger margin of 68.7 percent to 31.3 percent.

Voters struck down Propositions 45 and 46 that would have changed insurance regulations. Prop. 45 was denied by a margin of 40.2 percent to 59.8 percent. Prop. 46, was defeated by a margin of 32.9 percent to 67.1 percent.

State voters approved Prop. 47 which will declassify some crimes as misdemeanors and result in less court activity. The measure was condemned by Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson who said it will let up to 10,000 felons out of prison and decreasing penalties for crimes like gun theft, possession of date rape drugs, and identity theft. The measure passed 58.5 percent to 41.5 percent.

Indian gaming's Prop. 48 failed by a margin of 39.1 percent to 60.9 percent. It would have allowed the North Folk Rancheria of Mono Indians to build a new casino just north of Fresno.