Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis likely faces GOP's Angela Underwood Jacobs in November
Janet Wilson
Democratic incumbent Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis handily won the top spot against seven challengers in Tuesday's primary. Under California's system, the top two vote-getters will face off in November.
With all precincts partially reported, Kounalakis had 1,729,315 votes, or 52% of votes tallied.
Republican Angela Underwood Jacobs, a businesswoman and deputy mayor of Lancaster, was holding her lead for the runoff second spot with 660,856 votes, or 19.9% GOP entrepreneur David Fennell had 444,322 votes, or 13.4%.
Kounalakis' other challengers, all of whom had less than 5% of votes tallied, were:
- Clint W. Saunders, a mental health worker (Republican Party)
- Mohammed Arif, a businessman (Peace & Freedom Party)
- Jeffrey Highbear Morgan, a businessman and engineer (Democratic Party)
- William Cavett “Skee” Saacke, a trial attorney (Democratic Party)
- David Hillberg, an aviation mechanic and actor (No party)
According to CalMatters, Kounalakis had raised over $3 million as of June 1, far outstripping all her competitors.
Elections officials have 30 days to process and verify all ballots received. The secretary of state's office said Tuesday that election results will be finalized by July 15.