Republican Blakeslee Defeats Laird for State Senate Seat
Republican Assembly member Sam Blakeslee (San Luis Obispo) has defeated former Assembly member John Laird (D) to win the 15th District seat in the California Senate. With 100% of precincts reporting, Blakeslee had 48.8% of the vote while Laird had 44.1%. If Laird had won the election, Democrats would have been within one vote of the two-thirds majority needed to pass a budget and tax increases.
- "Republicans Maintain Calif. Legislative Seat" (Young, AP/Sacramento Bee, 8/18).
- "Blakeslee Bests Laird in Senate Runoff" (Alexander, Santa Cruz Sentinel, 8/18).