SACRAMENTO — The race for California state controller remains up in the air as ballot continue to be counted a week after the June 3 primary.
The first-place candidate is Republican Ashley Swearengin, mayor of Fresno, with 872,888 votes (24. 8 percent), but the question is which of three Democrats will face her in the November general election.
As of June 10, Betty Yee, a member of the State Board of Equalization, is in second place with 759,516 votes (21.6 percent). Close behind are John Perez, former Assembly speaker, with 758,319 (21.5 percent) and David Evans, former mayor of California City, with 755,006 (21.4 percent).
Out of the running are Green Laura Wells with 197,720 (5.6 percent) and Democrat Tammy Blair with 176,460 (5.0 percent).
According to the Associated Press, county clerks estimate that as many as 756,000 ballots remained uncounted statewide.
On her Facebook page, Yee posted on June 11, “Expecting the numbers to go up and down as county elections officials work to complete their count of vote-by-mail and provisional ballots. Thank you, all, for your messages of support and encouragement. I remain strong, positive, and cautiously optimistic. My hat is off to our county elections officials for their diligence and professionalism.”
The current controller is Democrat John Chiang, who is running for state treasurer.
Yee currently represents 9 million Californians in the BOE’s 1st District, which stretches from Del Norte County in the north to Santa Barbara County in the south. She is based in San Francisco, where she received 44 percent of the vote for controller, followed by Perez with 26.1 percent.
Perez, who represents Los Angeles in the Assembly, received 27.8 percent of the vote in Los Angeles County to Swearengin’s 24.7 percent and Yee’s 23 percent.
Yee is backed by the state’s major newspapers, while Perez is supported by labor organizations. Perez, who is gay, has been endorsed by several LGBT groups, but Yee has significant support in the LGBT community as well.
Yee’s endorsers include:
Reps. Judy Chu (Pasadena), Sam Farr (Salinas), Mike Honda (San Jose), Jackie Speier (San Mateo)
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson
Board of Equalization Chairman Jerome Horton
Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (Sacramento)
State Sens. Jim Beall (Campbell), Lou Correa (Santa Ana), Loni Hancock (Oakland), Jerry Hill (San Mateo), Hannah-Beth Jackson (Santa Barbara), Mark Leno (San Francisco), Carol Liu (Glendale), Holly Mitchell (Los Angeles)
Assemblymembers Paul Fong (Campbell), Kevin Mullin (San Mateo), Al Muratsuchi (Torrance), Mariko Yamada (Davis)
Perez’s endorsers include:
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), Reps. Karen Bass (Los Angeles), Julia Brownley (Oxnard), Tony Cardenas (Arleta), Jim Costa (Fresno), Zoe Lofgren (San Jose), Grace Napolitano (El Monte), Mark Takano (Riverside), Mike Thompson (Napa), Adam Schiff (Burbank), Brad Sherman (Sherman Oaks)
State Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, State Treasurer Bill Lockyer, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson
State Sens. Marty Block (San Diego), Mark DeSaulnier (Walnut Creek), Cathleen Galgiani (Stockton), Ben Hueso (Chula Vista), Ricardo Lara (Long Beach), Ted Lieu (Torrance), Holly Mitchell (Los Angeles), Alex Padilla (Van Nuys), Richard Roth (Riverside), Norma Torres (Chino), Lois Wolk (Vacaville)
Assemblymembers Luis Alejo (Salinas), Tom Ammiano (San Francisco), Toni Atkins (San Diego), Richard Bloom (Santa Monica), Raul Bocanegra (Arleta), Susan Bonilla (Concord), Rob Bonta (Alameda), Steven Bradford (Inglewood), Joan Buchanan (San Ramon), Ian Calderon (City of Industry), Nora Campos (San Jose), Ed Chau (Monterey Park), Wesley Chesbro (Santa Rosa), Ken Cooley (Rancho Cordova), Matt Dababneh (Van Nuys), Tom Daly (Anaheim), Roger Dickinson (Sacramento), Susan Talamantes Eggman (Stockton), Steve Fox (Palmdale), Jim Frazier (Fairfield), Mike Gatto (Burbank), Jimmy Gomez (Los Angeles), Lorena Gonzalez (San Diego), Richard Gordon (Los Altos), Adam Gray (Merced), Isadore Hall III (Compton), Roger Hernández (West Covina), Chris Holden (Pasadena), Reginald Jones-Sawyer (Los Angeles), Bonnie Lowenthal (Long Beach), Jose Medina (Riverside), Kevin Mullin (San Mateo), Al Muratsuchi (Torrance), Adrin Nazarian (Van Nuys), Dr. Richard Pan (Sacramento), Henry T. Perea (Fresno), V. Manuel Pérez (Indio), Bill Quirk (Hayward), Sharon Quirk-Silva (Fullerton), Anthony Rendon (South Gate), Freddie Rodriguez (Chino), Rudy Salas Jr. (Bakersfield), Nancy Skinner (Concord), Mark Stone (Santa Cruz), Phil Ting (San Francisco), Shirley Weber (San Diego), Bob Wieckowski (Fremont), Das Williams (Santa Barbara)