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On March 8, 2005, a special election was held in theCalifornia's 5th congressional district to choose aU.S. Representative to replaceBob Matsui, who had died ofpneumonia shortly after being re-elected in the2004 elections. Matsui's wife,Doris, was quickly able to win support from theDemocratic Party officials, and ended up winning over two-thirds of the vote in the special primary election, meaning a run-off would not be needed. As of 2021, this is the last time awidow succeeded their spouse in Congress.[a]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Doris Matsui | 56,175 | 67.65 | |
| Democratic | Julie Padilla | 7,158 | 8.62 | |
| Republican | John Flynn | 6,559 | 7.90 | |
| Republican | Serge Chernay | 3,742 | 4.51 | |
| Republican | Michael O'Brien | 2,591 | 3.12 | |
| Republican | Shane Singh | 1,753 | 2.11 | |
| Republican | Bruce Stevens | 1,124 | 1.35 | |
| Green | Pat Driscoll | 976 | 1.18 | |
| Independent | Leonard Padilla | 916 | 1.10 | |
| Democratic | Charles Pineda | 659 | 0.79 | |
| Libertarian | Gale Morgan | 451 | 0.54 | |
| Peace and Freedom | John Reiger | 286 | 0.34 | |
| Democratic | Lara Shapiro (write-in) | 6 | 0.01 | |
| Invalid or blank votes | 637 | 0.77 | ||
| Total votes | 83,033 | 100.0 | ||
| Turnout | 27.72 | |||
| Democratichold | ||||
