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California State Board of Equalization
Election details
Filing deadline:March 9, 2018
Primary: June 5, 2018 General: November 6, 2018 Pre-election incumbent(s): George Runner (Republican) (District 1) Fiona Ma (Democrat) (District 2) Jerome Horton (Democrat) (District 3) Diane Harkey (Republican) (District 4)
How to vote
Poll times: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voting in California
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California held an election for four seats on thestate board of equalization onNovember 6, 2018. Atop-two primary election was held on June 5, 2018; the top two vote-getters from each district, regardless of party, advanced to the general.

The election took place shortly after Gov.Jerry Brown (D) signed legislation reducing the scope of the board's responsibilities in 2017 following accusations of mismanagement.^[1] Read morebelow.

TheCalifornia State Board of Equalization is the only elected tax board in the country and was established by a constitutional amendment.^[2]

All four seats on the board were open, meaning the incumbent was not running.George Runner (R-District 1) andJerome Horton (D-District 3) were term-limited, while one-term membersFiona Ma (D-District 2) andDiane Harkey (R-District 4) chose to run for state treasurer and U.S. House, respectively.

Candidates and election results

District 1

General election

General election for California State Board of Equalization District 1

Ted Gaines defeatedTom Hallinan in the general election for California State Board of Equalization District 1 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ted Gaines (R)	51.4	1,436,547
		Tom Hallinan (D)	48.6	1,355,782

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	There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 2,792,329 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for California State Board of Equalization District 1

Tom Hallinan andTed Gaines defeatedConnie Conway andDavid Evans in the primary for California State Board of Equalization District 1 on June 5, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tom Hallinan (D)	39.4	606,159
✔		Ted Gaines (R)	32.6	500,879
		Connie Conway (R)	18.4	283,477
		David Evans (R)	9.6	147,473

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	There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 1,537,988
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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District 2

General election

General election for California State Board of Equalization District 2

Malia Cohen defeatedMark Burns in the general election for California State Board of Equalization District 2 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Malia Cohen (D)	72.8	2,482,171
		Mark Burns (R)	27.2	927,949

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	There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 3,410,120 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for California State Board of Equalization District 2

Malia Cohen andMark Burns defeatedCathleen Galgiani andBarry Chang in the primary for California State Board of Equalization District 2 on June 5, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Malia Cohen (D)	38.7	723,355
✔		Mark Burns (R)	26.9	502,143
		Cathleen Galgiani (D)	25.7	480,887
		Barry Chang (D)	8.7	163,102

---

	There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 1,869,487
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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District 3

General election

General election for California State Board of Equalization District 3

Tony Vazquez defeatedG. Rick Marshall in the general election for California State Board of Equalization District 3 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tony Vazquez (D)	69.9	1,895,972
		G. Rick Marshall (R)	30.1	815,829

---

	There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 2,711,801 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for California State Board of Equalization District 3

The following candidates ran in the primary for California State Board of Equalization District 3 on June 5, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		G. Rick Marshall (R)	26.4	335,570
✔		Tony Vazquez (D)	20.2	255,988
		Cheryl Turner (D)	16.9	214,916
	Submit photo	Scott Svonkin (D)	13.4	170,254
		Nancy Pearlman (D)	12.6	160,105
	Submit photo	Doug Kriegel (D)	3.5	44,962
	Submit photo	Ben Pak (D)	3.5	44,588
		Micheál O'Leary (Independent)	3.4	43,084

---

	There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 1,269,467
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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District 4

General election

General election for California State Board of Equalization District 4

Mike Schaefer defeatedJoel Anderson in the general election for California State Board of Equalization District 4 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Mike Schaefer (D)	52.2	1,559,373
		Joel Anderson (R)	47.8	1,427,566

---

	There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 2,986,939 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for California State Board of Equalization District 4

The following candidates ran in the primary for California State Board of Equalization District 4 on June 5, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Joel Anderson (R)	31.2	492,122
✔		Mike Schaefer (D)	17.0	269,044
	Submit photo	John Kelly (R)	16.7	263,294
		David Dodson (D)	14.9	234,534
	Submit photo	Ken Lopez-Maddox (D)	14.5	228,811
		Jim Stieringer (R)	3.7	58,642
		Nader Shahatit (R)	2.0	32,105

---

	There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 1,578,552
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Background

TheCalifornia State Board of Equalization was established by a constitutional amendment in 1879 and "was initially charged with responsibility for ensuring that county property tax assessment practices were equal and uniform throughout the state," according to the board's website.^[3] The board's responsibilities expanded to include oversight of 30 tax and fee programs, which generated 30 percent of that state's revenue ($60.5 billion) in fiscal year 2014-2015.^[4]

Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed legislation in June 2017 reducing the board's staff from 4,800 to 400 and transferring the responsibilities of hearing taxpayer appeals and collecting sales and excise taxes to two new departments, the Office of Tax Appeals and the Department of Tax and Fee Administration. The board remains responsible for setting gas tax rates and pipeline levies and for overseeing county property tax assessments.^[1]

The legislation followed a March 2017 evaluation of the board by the California Department of Finance, which reported "multiyear misallocations and reporting errors of sales and use tax" and that "some board members routinely supplement their staff by redirecting revenue generating staff to perform non-revenue generating board member activities, including outreach activities."^[4] The evaluation noted staff-redirecting activities in districts 3 and 4, represented by Horton and Harkey, respectively; Harkey stated that she was not involved in the redirecting in question, while Horton said that District 3 activities described in the evaluation were within the board's scope and properly conducted.^[5]

Three of the elected board members—Runner (R), Horton (D), and Harkey (R)—opposed the legislation reducing the board's responsibilities while Ma (D) supported it,The Sacramento Bee reported.^[6]

State overview

Partisan control

This section details the partisan control of federal and state positions in California heading into the 2018 elections.

Congressional delegation

• Following the2016 elections, Democrats held both U.S. Senate seats in California.
• Democrats held 39 of 53U.S. House seats in California.

State executives

• As of May 2018, Democrats held seven of 10state executive positions and the remaining three positions were officially nonpartisan.
• The governor of California was DemocratJerry Brown.

State legislature

• Democrats controlled both chambers of theCalifornia State Legislature. They had a 55-25 majority in the state Assembly and a 27-13 majority in the state Senate.

Trifecta status

• California was astate government trifecta, meaning that Democrats held the governorship and majorities in the state house and state senate.

2018 elections

See also:California elections, 2018

California held elections for the following positions in 2018:

• 1 Senate seat
• 53 U.S. House seats
• Governor
• Seven other state executive positions
• 20 of 40 state Senate seats
• 80 state Assembly seats
• Two state Supreme Court justices
• 35 state Court of Appeals judges
• Local trial court judges
• School board members

Demographics

As of July 2016, California had a population of approximately 39,000,000 people, with its three largest cities being Los Angeles (pop. est. 4.0 million), San Diego (pop. est. 1.4 million), and San Jose (pop. est. 1 million).^[7][8]

State election history

This section provides an overview of federal and state elections in California from 2000 to 2016. All data comes from theCalifornia Secretary of State.

Historical elections

Presidential elections, 2000-2016

This chart shows the results of the presidential election in California every year from 2000 to 2016.

Election results (President of the United States), California 2000-2016
Year	First-place candidate	First-place candidate votes (%)	Second-place candidate	Second-place candidate votes (%)	Margin of victory (%)
2016	Hillary Clinton	61.7%	Donald Trump	31.6%	30.1%
2012	Barack Obama	60.2%	Mitt Romney	37.1%	23.1%
2008	Barack Obama	61.1%	John McCain	37%	24.1%
2004	John Kerry	54.4%	George W. Bush	44.4%	10%
2000	Al Gore	53.5%	George W. Bush	41.7%	11.8%

U.S. Senate elections, 2000-2016

This chart shows the results ofU.S. Senate races in California from 2000 to 2016. Every state has two Senate seats, and each seat goes up for election every six years. The terms of the seats are staggered so that roughly one-third of the seats are up every two years.

Election results (U.S. Senator), California 2000-2016
Year	First-place candidate	First-place candidate votes (%)	Second-place candidate	Second-place candidate votes (%)	Margin of victory (%)
2016	Kamala Harris	61.6%	Loretta Sanchez	38.4%	23.2%
2012	Dianne Feinstein	62.5%	Elizabeth Emken	37.5%	25%
2010	Barbara Boxer	52.2%	Carly Fiorina	42.2%	10%
2006	Dianne Feinstein	59.5%	Richard Mountjoy	35.1%	24.4%
2004	Barbara Boxer	57.8%	Bill Jones	37.8%	20%
2000	Dianne Feinstein	55.9%	Tom Campbell	36.6%	19.3%

Gubernatorial elections, 2000-2016

This chart shows the results of the four gubernatorial elections held between 2000 and 2016. Gubernatorial elections are held every four years in California.

Election results (Governor), California 2000-2016
Year	First-place candidate	First-place candidate votes (%)	Second-place candidate	Second-place candidate votes (%)	Margin of victory (%)
2014	Jerry Brown	60%	Neel Kashkari	40%	20%
2010	Jerry Brown	53.8%	Meg Whitman	40.9%	12.9%
2006	Arnold Schwarzenegger	55.9%	Phil Angelides	39.0%	16.9%
2002	Gray Davis	47.3%	Bill Simon	42.4%	4.9%

Congressional delegation, 2000-2016

This chart shows the number of Democrats and Republicans who were elected to represent California in theU.S. House from 2000 to 2016. Elections for U.S. House seats are held every two years.

Congressional delegation, California 2000-2016
Year	Democrats	Democrats (%)	Republicans	Republicans (%)	Balance of power
2016	39	73.5%	14	26.4%	D+25
2014	39	73.5%	14	26.4%	D+25
2012	38	71.7%	15	28.3%	D+23
2010	34	64.1%	19	35.8%	D+15
2008	34	64.1%	19	35.8%	D+15
2006	34	64.1%	19	35.8%	D+15
2004	33	62.3%	20	37.7%	D+13
2002	33	62.3%	20	37.7%	D+13
2000	32	61.5%	20	38.5%	D+12

Trifectas, 1992-2017

Astate government trifecta occurs when one party controls both chambers of the state legislature and the governor's office.

See also

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• California State Board of Equalization

Footnotes

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