WATERTOWN — California held its primary elections for various municipal, state and federal positions on March 5 and there were a number of Armenians running in these races. As California uses a top-two primary system in which candidates of all parties compete against one another, the two top receivers of votes, no matter their party affiliation, will compete against one another in the November elections. The following includes preliminary results for many of the most prominent races involving Armenians, as of March 12.
Congress
Santa Clara County Supervisor Saren Joseph Simitian, a former California State Assemblyman and Senator, ran for the 16th Congressional District in Silicon Valley to replace the retiring Anna Eshoo, who held office for 16 terms. Simitian placed second out of 11 candidates with 25,379 votes (17.1 percent). He will be facing frontrunner Sam Liccardo, who received 32, 123 votes (17.1 percent) in November. Liccardo, like Simitian, is a Democrat.
In an even more crowded race, 15 candidates ran for the 30th Congressional District election, of whom two were Armenians. This district includes Glendale, Pasadena and Burbank so has many Armenian voters. Adam Schiff had chosen to run for US Senate instead of running again in this district so there was no incumbent.
Republican Dr. Alex Balekian achieved second place, with 23,140 votes (18.4 percent), meaning he will face frontrunner Laura Friedman, a Democrat with 36,754 votes (29.3 percent), in November. Democrat Dr. Jirair Ratevosian came in 9th place, with 2,447 votes (1.9 percent). Anthony Portantino, Jr., who has been very supportive of Armenians as a California State Senator, came in third place with 16,874 votes (13.4 percent).
California State Assembly
