State Senator Brian Dahle (R-Bieber) will face California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) in November’s gubernatorial contest, the Associated Press is projecting.
Newsom won 60.8% of the state’s voters and Dahle 15.2% of the vote, according to preliminary election returns as of 8:53pm Tuesday, KTLA sister station KRON reports.
Dahle’s candidacy comes after a plethora of GOP candidates ran against Newsom, the former lieutenant governor and San Francisco mayor, during last September’s recall election. Newsom beat the recall 62-38%.
Dahle has served as a state senator since 2019. His district covers California’s northeast, including El Dorado, Alpine, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra and Siskiyou counties. It also includes roughly 10% of Sacramento County, including Fair Oaks, Folsom, Gold River and Orangevale.
Prior to his time in the state legislature’s upper chamber, the 56-year-old Republican served in the state Assembly from 2012-2019, including a stint as minority leader from 2017-18.
Michael Shellenberger, an author, won 3.1% of the vote, according to preliminary results.
California’s top-two primary was first introduced in 2012 and allows for the top two vote-getters in spring’s jungle primary to move on to the general election in November, regardless of party, for statewide and federal offices, except in presidential elections.