Uncontested Candidates in 2006
In the 2006 General Election, voters chose candidates to fill a total of 185 partisan offices (including eighty Assemblymen, forty State Senators and fifty-three Members of Congress). Ten of these 185 races were uncontested, the most in sixteen years. The most recent class of unchallenged candidates included Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, former Lieutenant Governor Mervyn M. Dymally, and former State Senator Richard Alarcon (who resigned his Assembly seat after only four months for a seat on the Los Angeles City Council).
Looking Ahead to 2008
According to information from the Secretary of State's office, twelve incumbents will face no General election opposition in November 2008. These officeholders will be; US Representatives Dennis Cardoza, George Radanovich, Kevin McCarthy, Howard Berman, Henry Waxman, Xavier Becerra, and Hilda Solis, State Senator Abel Maldonado, and Assemblymembers Anna Caballero, Hector De La Torre, and Ted Gaines. Additionally, there is one Congressional and four Assembly races that will be uncontested at the November General Election.
Historic Uncontested Candidates (1946-2006)
In the last sixty years, there have been 469 unopposed candidates. The 1950 and 1952 elections saw the most uncontested candidates (more than 150 in those two years alone). The Democrats have had more unchallenged candidates, with 260 (opposed to 209 uncontested Republicans). A large majority of the races were for Assembly seats (315 races), while 99 were State Senate races, 43 were members of Congress, and 12 members of the Board of Equalization.
Most Frequently Unopposed Candidates
Several candidates have run unopposed on multiple occasions. Lloyd W. Lowrey holds the record ran unopposed a record eight times. Because of term limits and the large number of active political parties, it is highly unlikely that this record will ever be broken. Ralph M. Brown and Gus Hawkins were elected unopposed seven times. Donald L. Grunsky and William Byron Rumford were elected unopposed six times. George A. Clarke, Glenn E. Coolidge, John F. Shelley and Randolph Collier were elected unopposed five times. Ten Candidates were elected unopposed four times: Carley V. Porter, Clair Engle, Francis C. Lindsay, Francis Dunn Jr., George R. Reilly, Hugh M. Burns, Hugh P. Donnelly, Marvin Sherwin, Richard H. McCollister, Vincent Thomas.
Twenty-seven candidates who were elected unopposed three times: Carlos Bee, Charles Brown, Charles W. Meyers, Dorothy M. Donahoe, Edward E. Elliott, Edward M. Gaffney, Ernest C. Crowley, Ernest R. Geddes, Samuel R. Geddes, Frank P. Belotti, George Paul Miller, Gordon H. Winton Jr., H. W. Kelly , Jess R. Dorsey, John E. Moss, John J. McFall, John L. E. Collier, Stewart Hinckley, Laughlin E. Waters, Lester T. Davis, Louis G. Sutton, Pauline L. Davis, Randal F. Dickey, Robert C. Kirkwood, William Clifton Berry and William H. Rosenthal