# 2009 California's 10th congressional district special election

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vte :
California's 10th congressional district special election, 2009 was held on November 3, 2009, to fill the vacancy caused in California's 10th congressional district by the resignation of Ellen Tauscher. Democratic Party candidate John Garamendi won against Republican opponent David Harmer.

## Background and procedures for election

On May 5, 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Democratic Representative Ellen Tauscher for the position of Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. She was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 26 and subsequently resigned from her congressional seat.
Following her resignation, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called a special election. An open primary among candidates of all political parties took place on September 1, 2009. If a candidates received a majority of the vote in the primary, that candidate would wins the seat without an additional election. As that didn't occur, the general election took place on November 3, 2009, between the candidates with the most votes for each party.

## Candidates

The following individuals appeared in the certified list of candidates and the certified list of write-in candidates published by the Secretary of State of California, and were thus eligible to receive votes in the special primary election.

### American Independent

* Jerome "Jerry" Denham, an insurance agent

### Democratic

* Tiffany René Estrella Attwood, a write-in candidate
* Joan Buchanan, the State Assemblymember from the 15th district
* Mark DeSaulnier, the State Senator from the 7th district who was endorsed by Tauscher as her successor
* John Garamendi, the Lieutenant Governor
* Adriel Hampton, a Government 2.0 blogger and investigator for the San Francisco City Attorney
* Anthony Woods, an Iraq War Veteran and economic policy analyst

### Green

* Jeremy Cloward, a community college instructor

### Peace and Freedom

* Mary C. McIlroy

### Republican

* Chris Bunch, a small business owner
* Gary W. Clift, a retired police officer
* David Harmer, an independent businessman
* Mark Loos, a small business owner
* David Peterson, an accountability system owner
* John Toth, a physician

## Polling
### General election

| Poll source | Date | John Garamendi | David Harmer | Other |
| Survey USA | October 26–28, 2009 | 50% | 40% | 6% |

## Results
### Primary

Since no candidate won a majority in the September 1, 2009, open primary, the candidates with the top votes for each party advanced to the special general election. Garamendi won more votes than any other Democrat and Harmer more than any Republican. Denham, Cloward, and McIlroy were the only candidates from their parties so they advanced the general election by default.
California's 10th congressional district special primary, 2009 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | John Garamendi | 27,580 | 25.70 |
| | Republican | David Harmer | 22,582 | 21.05 |
| | Democratic | Mark DeSaulnier | 18,888 | 17.60 |
| | Democratic | Joan Buchanan | 12,896 | 12.02 |
| | Democratic | Anthony Woods | 9,388 | 8.75 |
| | Republican | Chris Bunch | 4,871 | 4.54 |
| | Republican | Gary Clift | 4,158 | 3.88 |
| | Republican | John Toth | 3,340 | 3.11 |
| | Republican | David Peterson | 1,671 | 1.56 |
| | Green | Jeremy Cloward | 552 | 0.51 |
| | Republican | Mark Loos | 418 | 0.39 |
| | Democratic | Adriel Hampton | 376 | 0.35 |
| | American Independent | Jerome Denham | 309 | 0.29 |
| | Peace and Freedom | Mary McIlroy | 272 | 0.25 |
| | Democratic | Tiffany Attwood (write-in) | 2 | 0.00 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 107,303 | 100.00 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | | 29.39 |

### General

California's 10th congressional district special election, 2009 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | John Garamendi | 72,817 | 52.85 |
| | Republican | David Harmer | 59,017 | 42.83 |
| | Green | Jeremy Cloward | 2,515 | 1.83 |
| | Peace and Freedom | Mary McIlroy | 1,846 | 1.34 |
| | American Independent | Jerome Denham | 1,591 | 1.15 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 137,786 | 100.00 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | | 35.33 |
| | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold |