The 2018 United States Senate election in California took place on November 6, 2018, to elect a member of the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

to represent

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, concurrently with other elections to the United States Senate,

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

, and various

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

and

local elections Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Local'' (comics), a limited series comic book by Bria ...

. Under California's non-partisan blanket primary law, all candidates appear on the same ballot, regardless of party. In the primary, voters may vote for any candidate, regardless of their party affiliation. In the California system, the top two finishers — regardless of party — advance to the general election in November, even if a candidate receives a majority of the votes cast in the primary election. Washington and

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

have similar " jungle primary" style processes for U.S. Senate elections, as does

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

for U.S. Senate special elections. The candidate filing deadline was March 8, 2018, and the primary election was held on June 5, 2018. Democratic

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position. In an election, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the position that is up for election, regardless of whether they are seeking re-election. There may or may not be ...

Dianne Feinstein Dianne Emiel Feinstein (; June 22, 1933 – September 29, 2023) was an American politician who served as a United States senator from California from 1992 until her death in 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as the 38th ...

won re-election in

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

with 63% of the vote, taking the record for the most popular votes in any U.S. Senate election in history, with 7.86 million votes. Feinstein, at the time, was the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. She turned 85 years old in 2018, leading some to speculate that she would retire in January 2019, as her long-time colleague

Barbara Boxer Barbara Sue Boxer (née Levy; born November 11, 1940) is a retired American politician, lobbyist, and former reporter who served in the United States Senate, representing California from 1993 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United St ...

did in January 2017. However, Feinstein ran for re-election to her fifth full term, winning 44.2% of the vote in the top-two primary; she faced Democratic challenger Kevin de León in the general election, who won 12.1% of the primary vote. For the second time since direct elections to the Senate began after the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, no Republican appeared on the general election ballot for the U.S. Senate in California. The highest Republican finisher in the primary won only 8.3 percent of the vote, and the 10 Republicans only won 31.2 percent of the vote among them. Briefly, during the early stages of the primary, Patrick Little, a

Neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...

running as a Republican polled at 18% which at the time put him in second place and the likely runoff candidate against Feinstein, however, his campaign collapsed after the media reported on his views. In the general election, Feinstein defeated de León by an eight-point margin, 54% to 46%. This was Feinstein's closest election since

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

, as well as her last run for elected office, as she died in office in September 2023.

Candidates

Democratic Party

Advanced to general

* Kevin de León,

President pro tempore of the California State Senate The president pro tempore of the California State Senate (President Pro Tem) is the chief executive and highest-ranking member the California State Senate and serves as chair of the Senate Rules Committee. The Pro Tem is chosen at the beginning of ...

, incumbent U.S. Senator

Eliminated in primary

* Adrienne Nicole Edwards, Vice Chairwoman on the HDT Community Development Foundation board * Pat Harris, attorney * Alison Hartson, national director of Wolf PAC * David Hildebrand, legislative analyst * Herbert G. Peters, retired aerospace engineer and candidate for U.S. Senate in California in 2016 * Douglas Howard Pierce * Gerald Plummer * Donnie O. Turner, Air Force veteran

Withdrawn

* Topher Brennan *

John Melendez John Edward Melendez (born October 4, 1965), also known as Stuttering John, and The Duke of the Dabbleverse, is an American entertainer. He is best known for being a staff member on ''The Howard Stern Show'' from 1988 to 2004. Initially workin ...

, television writer and radio personality * Steve Stokes, candidate for the U.S. Senate in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Declined

* Ana Kasparian, co-host of ''

The Young Turks ''The Young Turks'' (''TYT'') is an American progressive and left-wing populist sociopolitical news and commentary program live streamed on social media platforms YouTube and Twitch, and additionally selected television channels. ''TYT'' se ...

'' *

Joe Sanberg Joseph N. Sanberg (born July 12, 1979) is an American entrepreneur. He is co-founder of Aspiration, Inc., initially an online banking and investing firm, and an early investor in meal delivery service Blue Apron. He is also the founder of CalEI ...

, entrepreneur and investor *

Tom Steyer Thomas Fahr Steyer (; born June 27, 1957) is an American climate investor, businessman, hedge fund manager, philanthropist, environmentalist, political candidate and liberal activist. Steyer is the founder and former co-senior-managing-partner ...

, hedge fund manager * Cenk Uygur, host of ''The Young Turks''

Republican Party

Declared

* Arun K. Bhumitra, businessman * James P. Bradley, businessman * Jack Crew, bus driver * Erin Cruz, published author *

Rocky De La Fuente Roque "Rocky" De La Fuente Guerra (born October 10, 1954) is an American businessman who has sought elected office. A perennial candidate, De La Fuente was the Reform Party nominee in the 2016 and 2020 United States presidential elections; he a ...

, entrepreneur and perennial candidate * Jerry Joseph Laws, candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2016 * Patrick Little, neo-Nazi and Holocaust denier (denounced by California Republican Party) * Kevin Mottus, candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2016 * Mario Nabliba, scientist * Tom Palzer, activist, retired city planner and candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2016 * Paul Allen Taylor, businessman

Withdrawn

* Donald R. Adams, businessman * Gary Coson * John Estrada * Timothy Charles Kalemkarian,

perennial candidate A perennial candidate is a political candidate who frequently runs for elected office and rarely, if ever, wins. Perennial candidates are most common where there is no limit on the number of times that a person can run for office and little cost ...

* Ernie Konnyu, former U.S. Representative * Caren Lancona, businesswoman * Jazmina Saavedra, businesswoman and activist * Stephen James Schrader, veteran

Declined

* Kevin Faulconer, mayor of San Diego * Caitlyn Jenner, 1976 Olympic gold medalist and television personality *

Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, businessman, former politician, and former professional bodybuilder, known for his roles in high-profile action films. Governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger, ...

, actor and former

Governor of California The governor of California is the head of government of the U.S. state of California. The Governor (United States), governor is the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Guard. Established in the Constit ...

* Ashley Swearengin, former mayor of

Fresno Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...

Libertarian Party

Declared

* Derrick Michael Reid, retired attorney and engineer and candidate for president in 2016

Green Party

Declared

* Michael V. Ziesing (write-in)

Peace and Freedom Party

Declared

* John Thompson Parker

No party preference

Declared

* Colleen Shea Fernald, perennial candidate * Rash Bihari Ghosh * Tim Gildersleeve, businessman and researcher * Michael Fahmy Girgis * Don J. Grundmann, California Constitution Party chairman and perennial candidate ( Constitution Party) * Jason M. Hanania * David Moore ( Socialist Equality Party) * Lee W. Olson * Ursula M. Schilling (write-in) * Ling Ling Shi, evangelist

Withdrawn

* Jerry Leon Carroll *

Michael Eisen Michael Bruce Eisen (born April 13, 1967) is an American computational biologist and the former editor-in-chief of the journal eLife. He is a professor of genetics, genomics and Developmental biology, development at University of California, Berkel ...

, biologist * Charles Junior Hodge * Richard Thomas Mead * Clifton Roberts (Humane Party)

Notes

Primary election

Endorsements

Fundraising

Polling

with Timothy Charles Kalemkarian, Caren Lancona, John Melendez, and Stephen Schrader
with Tom Steyer
with John Cox
with Xavier Becerra, Kevin Faulconer, Brad Sherman, Eric Swalwell, and Ashley Swearingin

Results

Democratic candidates won a combined total of 4,231,444 votes, Republican candidates 2,216,223 votes, and other candidates 223,053 votes.

General election

Debates

Complete video of debate
October 17, 2018

Endorsements

Fundraising

Predictions

Because of California's top-two runoff system, the seat was guaranteed to be won/held by a Democrat since the initial primary produced two Democratic candidates.

Polling

with Feinstein, de León, and Tom Steyer
with Feinstein, de León, and John Cox

Results

The race had an undervote of around 1.3 million votes compared to the

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

, likely by Republican voters choosing neither candidate. De León won many of the same counties and congressional districts won by Republican gubernatorial nominee John Cox, as many voters may have expressed opposition to the incumbent senator. No county voted for both Feinstein and Cox. Congressional districts 39, 45, and 48 were the only congressional districts that voted for both Feinstein and Cox.

By county

Results by county. Cyan represents counties won by de León.

By congressional district

Feinstein won 38 of the 53 congressional districts, with the remaining 15 going to De León, including seven held by Republicans.

References

External links

Candidates
at

Vote Smart Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is an American non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected offic ...

Candidates
at

Ballotpedia Ballotpedia is a nonprofit and nonpartisan online political encyclopedia that covers federal, state, and local politics, elections, and public policy in the United States. The website was founded in 2007. Ballotpedia is sponsored by the Lucy Bur ...

Campaign finance
at FEC
Campaign finance
at

OpenSecrets OpenSecrets is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that tracks and publishes data on campaign finance and lobbying, including a revolving door database which documents the individuals who have worked in both the public sector an ...

Official campaign websites
Dianne Feinstein (D) for Senate

Kevin de León (D) for Senate
{{2018 United States elections

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Dianne Feinstein