Nearly a Week After Election Day, California Democrats Regain Supermajority in Legislature

Nearly a week after the midterm elections, the news keeps getting worse for California Republicans. Democrats claimed victory Monday in two state Senate races, giving them back the two-thirds supermajority they lost in June when Orange County Democrat Josh Newman was recalled after he voted in favor of Gov. Jerry Brown's gas tax increase. Republican leads also continued to slip in a pair of hotly contested Orange County congressional races. In the state Senate races, Democratic Assemblywoman Anna Caballero of Salinas defeated Madera County Supervisor Rob Poythress, while Melissa Hurtado, a Sanger (Fresno County) councilwoman, beat GOP state Sen. Andy Vidak of Hanford (Kings County). Caballero won a seat left vacant when GOP state Sen. Anthony Cannella was termed out of office.