2016 United States Senate election in California information
See also: 2016 United States Senate elections
2016 United States Senate election in California
← 2010
November 8, 2016
2022 →
Candidate
Kamala Harris
Loretta Sanchez
Party
Democratic
Democratic
Popular vote
7,542,753
4,701,417
Percentage
61.60%
38.40%
County results
Congressional district results
Harris: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90%
Sanchez: 50–60% 60–70%
U.S. senator before election
Barbara Boxer
Democratic
Elected U.S. Senator
Kamala Harris
Democratic
Elections in California
Federal government
U.S. President
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Dem
Rep
U.S. Senate
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U.S. House of Representatives
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State government
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2026
Lieutenant governor
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Attorney general
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Secretary of state
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Treasurer
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Controller
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Insurance commissioner
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Superintendent
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Board of equalization
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Legislature
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Special
Assembly
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2021 (79th sp)
2022 (17th sp)
2024
Special
Judiciary
Court of appeals
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2006
Elections by year
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Feb
Jun
Nov
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Nov
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State propositions
1910–1919
1911
4
7
8
1960–1969
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14
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1978
6
8
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1980–1989
1982
8
1986
64
65
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1994
187
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196
209
215
218
1998
6
10
227
2000–2009
2000
21
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36
39
2003
53
54
2004
1A
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2005
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2008
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1F
2010–2019
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13
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2012
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2016
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2018
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2022
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Full list
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Los Angeles County
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Board of supervisors
1980
1996
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2020
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2024
Ballot measures
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A
2008
R
2012
B
J
2016
M
Elections
2020
2022
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2013
2017
2022
City attorney
2009
Ballot measures
1986
U
2017
S
Elections
2009
2011
2013
2015
2017
2019 (sp)
2020
2022
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Long Beach
Mayor
1994
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2022
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Orange County
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Board of supervisors
2018
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District attorney
2018
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Mayor
2002
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Costa Mesa
Municipal
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Sacramento
Mayor
2000
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San Diego County
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Board of supervisors
2020
San Diego
Mayor
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San Francisco
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District attorney
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Board of education
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Elections
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Nov
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2008
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Nov
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Feb
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San Jose
Mayor
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Other localities
Bakersfield
Mayoral elections:
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Mayoral elections:
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Mayoral elections:
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Mayoral elections:
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This article is part of a series about
Kamala Harris
Political positions
Electoral history
Early life
Early career
Family
#KHive
District Attorney of San Francisco
Tenure
Elections
2003
2007
Attorney General of California
Tenure
Elections
2010
2014
U.S. Senator from California
Tenure
2016 election
Justice for Victims of Lynching Act
MORE Act
49th Vice President of the United States
Incumbent
Transition
Tenure
Biden administration
Inauguration
2020 presidential campaign
Primaries
Debates
Endorsements
Vice presidential campaigns
2020
selection
convention
election
2024
election
Published works
Smart on Crime
Superheroes Are Everywhere
The Truths We Hold
v
t
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The 2016 United States Senate election in California was held on November 8, 2016, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of California, concurrently with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as well as elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
Under California's nonpartisan 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 vote in the primary election. Washington and Louisiana have similar "jungle primary" style processes for senators.
Incumbent Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer decided to not run for reelection to a fifth term.[1] This was the first open seat Senate election in California since 1992, when Boxer was first elected.[2] In the primary on June 7, 2016, California Attorney General Kamala Harris and U.S. Representative Loretta Sanchez, both Democrats, finished in first and second place, respectively, and contested the general election. For the first 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 7.8 percent of the vote, and the 10 Republicans only won 27.9 percent of the vote among them.[3]
In the general election, Harris defeated Sanchez in a landslide, carrying 54 of the state's 58 counties, including Sanchez's home county of Orange, although Sanchez held Harris to a margin of less than 1% in the Central Valley counties of Kern and Merced. Harris served in the Senate for roughly 4 years as she resigned after being elected Vice President in 2020.
^Burgess Everett (January 8, 2015). "Barbara Boxer: Won't run again in 2016". Politico. Retrieved January 8, 2015.
^Ballhaus, Rebecca (January 8, 2015). "The Contenders: Who Will Run for Barbara Boxer's Senate Seat?". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 8, 2015.
^Myers, John (June 8, 2016). "Two Democrats will face off for California's U.S. Senate seat, marking first time a Republican will not be in contention". Los Angeles Times.
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