As the fog lifts from election day and the victors moving on to November from California’s June 3 top two primary election, voters in California’s 52nd district will see incumbent Democrat Scott Peters battle it out with Republican Carl DeMaio in November.
Late Tuesday night when all of the votes had been counted, Peters came out on top with 42% of the vote, DeMaio following with 35%, then Jorgensen at 17% and Simon just shy of 4% of the vote.
Peters won the Congressional seat in 2012 after beating out incumbent Republican Brian Bilbray. Bilbray served twelve years in congress in not all consecutive terms, serving six years from 2006 to 2012 and another six previously in another district from 1995 to 2001. Bilbray, widely considered a more moderate republican, lost the seat in 2012 when waning popularity met newly drawn congressional district lines.
Now DeMaio will take on Peters in an attempt to win back a congressional seat whose voter registration makes it uncertain who will come out on top. With declining voter turnout numbers, success is likely to be closely tied to who can motivate voters to come out to the polls in a non-Presidential election year.