California Healthline Highlights Election Results
State voters on Tuesday elected Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi (D) lieutenant governor, the Los Angeles Times reports (Bailey, Los Angeles Times, 11/8).
With 100% of precincts reporting, Garamendi received 49.5% of the vote. Sen. Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks) received 44.9% (Secretary of State Web site, 11/8).
In an October debate, McClintock said that Garamendi favors a single-payer, state-run health care system that could leave the state bankrupt (California Healthline, 10/24).
Garamendi has said that providing universal health care is the "right and moral thing to do" as premiums continue to increase in the face of high administrative costs and profits of private insurance companies (California Healthline, 10/10).
Steve Poizner (R) on Tuesday was elected insurance commissioner, the Sacramento Bee reports (Sanders, Sacramento Bee, 11/8).
With 100% of precincts reporting, Poizner won 50.6% of the vote. His challenger, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante (D), received 38.9% of the vote. (Secretary of State Web site, 11/8).
Poizner, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, contributed more than $13 million of personal funds to his campaign (Sacramento Bee, 11/8).
During the campaign, Bustamante, the two-time lieutenant governor, said he wanted to explore expanding the insurance commissioner's control over health care.
Poizner said that he would work to educate an estimated two million eligible Californians about existing state health insurance programs (California Healthline, 10/10).
California voters on Tuesday elected Oakland mayor and former Gov. Jerry Brown (D) as the next state attorney general, the Sacramento Bee reports (Sanders, Sacramento Bee, 11/8).
With 100% of precincts reporting, Brown won 56.7% of the vote. His challenger, Chuck Poochigan (R), received 37.9% of the votes (Secretary of State Web site, 11/8).
During the campaign, Brown accused Poochigan of seeking to outlaw abortion and opposing stem cell research.
Poochigan said that he opposes abortion except in the case of rape, incest or to save a woman's life.
Brown in the past has made statements that are both supportive and critical of abortion rights (California Healthline, 9/25).