California's 10th congressional district special election, 2009 was held on November 3, 2009, to fill the vacancy caused in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

's 10th congressional district by the resignation of

Ellen Tauscher Ellen O'Kane Tauscher (November 15, 1951 – April 29, 2019) was an American businesswoman, diplomat, and Democratic Party politician who was the U.S. representative for California's 10th congressional district from 1997 to 2009. From 2009 to 2012 ...

. Democratic Party candidate

John Garamendi John Raymond Garamendi (; born January 24, 1945) is an American businessman, politician, and member of the Democratic Party who has represented areas of Northern California between San Francisco and Sacramento, including the cities of Fairfield ...

won against Republican opponent David Harmer.

Background and procedures for election

On May 5, 2009,

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

nominated Democratic

Representative Representative may refer to: Politics * Representative democracy, type of democracy in which elected officials represent a group of people * House of Representatives, legislative body in various countries or sub-national entities * Legislator, som ...

Ellen Tauscher for the position of

Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security The Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security Affairs (T) is a position within the U.S. Department of State that serves as Senior Adviser to the President of the United States, President and the United States Secretary of State ...

. She was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on June 26 and subsequently resigned from her congressional seat. Following her resignation,

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, film producer, businessman, retired professional bodybuilder and politician who served as the 38th governor of California between 2003 and 2011. ''Time'' ...

called a

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-larges ...

. An

open primary Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...

among candidates of all political parties took place on September 1, 2009. If a candidates received a majority of the vote in the primary, that candidate would wins the seat without an additional election. As that didn't occur, the general election took place on November 3, 2009 between the candidates with the most votes for each party.

Candidates

The following individuals appeared in the certified list of candidates and the certified list of

write-in candidate A write-in candidate is a candidate whose name does not appear on the ballot but seeks election by asking voters to cast a vote for the candidate by physically writing in the person's name on the ballot. Depending on electoral law it may be poss ...

s published by the

Secretary of State of California The secretary of state of California is the chief clerk of the U.S. state of California, overseeing a department of 500 people. The secretary of state is elected for four year terms, like the state's other constitutional officers; the officeho ...

, and were thus eligible to receive votes in the special primary election.

American Independent

*Jerome "Jerry" Denham, an insurance agent

Democratic

*Tiffany René Estrella Attwood, a write-in candidate * Joan Buchanan, the State Assemblymember from the 15th district *

Mark DeSaulnier Mark James DeSaulnier ( ; born March 31, 1952) is an American politician who has served as the U.S. representative for California's 11th congressional district since 2015. The district includes most of Contra Costa County, a suburban county in ...

, the

State Senator A state senator is a member of a state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. Description A state senator is a member of an upper house in the bicameral legislatures of 49 U ...

from the 7th district who was endorsed by Tauscher as her successor *

, the

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

* Adriel Hampton, a

Government 2.0 E-government (short for electronic government) is the use of technological communications devices, such as computers and the Internet, to provide public services to citizens and other persons in a country or region. E-government offers new ...

blogger and investigator for the San Francisco City Attorney * Anthony Woods, an Iraq War Veteran and economic policy analyst

Green

*Jeremy Cloward, a community college instructor

Peace and Freedom

*Mary C. McIlroy

Republican

*Chris Bunch, a small business owner *Gary W. Clift, a retired police officer *David Harmer, an independent businessman * Mark Loos, a small business owner *David Peterson, an accountability system owner *John Toth, a physician

Polling

General election

Results

Primary

Since no candidate won a majority in the September 1, 2009, open primary, the candidates with the top votes for each party advanced to the special general election. Garamendi won more votes than any other Democrat and Harmer more than any Republican. Denham, Cloward, and McIlroy were the only candidates from their parties so they advanced the general election by default.

General

References

{{California elections California 2009 10 California 2009 10 2009 10 Special California 10 Special United States House of Representatives 10 Special United States House of Representatives 2009 10