Janice Hahn Wins Special Congressional Election in CD 36 (CA)

With most Vote By Mail ballots counted and nearly half the precincts reporting, Democrat Janice Hahn has pulled away from Republican Craig Huey, and will be elected to Congress to fill the term of former Congresswoman Jane Harman.

Here is the latest tally from the LA County Registrar-Recorder, as of 11 p.m. PDT:

   JANICE HAHN  DEM   30,545    56.83
CRAIG HUEY   REP   23,207    43.17
                                                                       
TOTAL PRECINCTS   261   PRECINCTS REPORTING  127    48.66

Even were the precincts reporting overwhelming from Hahn strongholds (we don't know which precincts have or have not reported), barring an extremely unlikely vote distribution in the outstanding precincts, there are not enough outstanding votes for Huey to overcome Hahn's 13.66% lead.

Hahn's campaign, which focused on green job growth and on painting her opponent as a Tea-Party extremist who used his direct-mail marketing business to defraud seniors, and who would vote to dismantle Medicare should he be elected, appears to have been effective in the coastal district (stretching from San Pedro in the south to Venice and Marina del Rey to the north) which is strongly Democratic, but fairly moderate overall.

Huey's campaign, which seemed to focus on painting Hahn, a Los Angeles City Councilwoman (and member of a family which has given Los Angeles several prominent elected officials) as someone who went easy on, or did special favors for, gang members. That line of attack, which may have worked against someone less well known, apparently fell flat for Huey.

UPDATE, 11:45 p.m. PDT:

With 100% of the vote counted, Janice Hahn has been elected to the U.S. Congress, representing the 36th CD (California).

Final, unofficial vote count from the Registrar-Recorder:

   JANICE HAHN   DEM   41,585    54.56
 CRAIG HUEY    REP   34,636    45.44
                                                                         
TOTAL PRECINCTS  261   PRECINCTS REPORTING  261   100.00

Janice Hahn Leads in Early Voting in 36th CD (CA)

With vote totals in for Vote By Mail (VBM) ballots, as well as 7 of 261 precincts, Democrat Janice Hahn has taken an 8.5% lead over her opponent, Republican Craig Huey. Here are the initial numbers, released by the Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder at 8:04 p.m.:

                                                                           
 JANICE HAHN  DEM  21,365    54.24
 CRAIG HUEY   REP  18,025    45.76
                                                                         
TOTAL PRECINCTS 261   PRECINCTS REPORTING 7  2.68 

While these totals don't guarantee a victory for Hahn, they will be helpful against a possible surge by Huey amongst Republican voters in the Torrance / South Bay area, where Huey is expected to run strong.

We'll try to post updates as they become available.