Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn, a Democrat, will face Craig Huey, a Republican businessman, in a second round of voting to determine who will fill the open seat in California’s 36th Congressional District, which was vacated by Jane Harman in December 2010.
Hahn finished ahead of the 15 other candidates, winning just under 25 percent of the votes. Huey, who raised more money than any other candidate, took the second spot, with 21.87 percent of the electorate.
Huey narrowly beat California Secretary of State Debra Bowen, a Democrat, who won 21.48 percent of the vote. The difference between Huey and Bowen: 206 votes.
The result of Tuesday’s election—the state’s first congressional election to be contested without party-based primaries—paves the way for a second round of voting on July 12, in which Hahn and Huey will be the only two names on the ballot.
The 36th Congressional District has twice as many registered Democrats as it does Republicans.
Other candidates of interest in the election included Marcy Winograd, a teacher and anti-war activist who ran against Harman in the 2006 and 2010 Democratic primaries. Winograd came in fourth, winning 9.5 percent of the votes.
Democratic candidate Daniel Adler, whose name exploded in the blogosphere over the race’s final days in conjunction with his attention-grabbing advertisements, finished in 10th place.
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