I live in a reliably Democratic assembly district (AD 46), and I don’t think I ever witnesses as tough and fierce a battle in round one between two Democrats, Adrin Nazarian and Brian Johnson.  Nazarian was heavily backed by the teacher’s union, and Johnson by the charter school movement.  The volume of mail, calls, and outreach seemed unprecedented.  It looked like the two Democrats would go on to refight this battle in round two, much like the Sherman-Berman congressional race (which is also my district).

But it turns out that thanks to the large number of candidates in Round 1, a Republican (the only one in the race), Jay Stern edged out Johnson by a mere 31 votes for the number 2 spot to face Nazarian. Stern got 20.07% of the vote compared to Johnson’s 20%.  News just broke that Johnson will not ask for a recount.

Stern does not have much of a campaign.  He has a website he appears to work himself, and he spent $2,000 on his campaign so far.  (In contrast, the California Teacher’s Association spent $500,000 to defeat Johnson.)

This race is effectively over, but top two almost led to a more competitive race in the fall in my district.