Even though this was a tough election for us Republicans, there were some bright spots in Riverside County.  Embattled Congressman Jerry Lewis held onto his seat by a substantial margin, as did Mary Bono-Mack and especially Darrell Issa (59% to 36%).

Bob Dutton won re-election to the State Senate and Assemblyman John Benoit is going to officially join him there as he replaces termed out Senator Jim Battin.  Kevin Jeffries won re-election to the Assembly.  Jeff Miller and Brian Nestande will replace Todd Spitzer and John Benoit respectively. 

Even though the margin of victory for Republicans in the state partisan races in Riverside County was nerve-racking close, all of the Republicans above are solid conservatives and are not the kind of squishy legislators who will sell out the Republican Caucus at state budget time.

At the local level, it was good to see Republican Robin Hastings take out Democrat Frank West for Moreno Valley City Council Member in District 3. Border security advocate Lupe Ramos Watson won re-election for Indio City Council and RCYR endorsed Republican Glenn Miller will now join her.  Hopefully former Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia staffer Steve Sanchez will not be discouraged by coming up a little short on Election Day.  Steve is a great conservative and dedicated Republican staffer and his best days as a Republican official are still ahead of him I hope.

Although RCYR picks Steve Manos and Joyce Smith came up short, it was good to see Republican Bob Magee re-elected to Lake Elsinore City Council.  It was also encouraging to see former Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries staffer Randon Lane elected to join Doug McAllister on the Murrieta City Council.

Former Republican candidate for the 65th Assembly District Jim Ayres was returned to the San Jacinto City Council as the top vote getter and Republican Central Committee alternate Jason Scott was the top vote getter in the Corona City Council election.  I thought RCYR endorsed Baxter Miller was by far more conservative for the other Corona seat but he finished third. 

Perris Mayor Daryl Busch returns and GOPers Jerry Franchville and Robert Youssef are elected to the Hemet City Council.  The Western Municipal Water District will be in good hands with former Corona Mayor Al Lopez and Don Galleano both being reelected.

In other districts, Noreen Considine was elected Jurupa USD Board, Tommy Thompson was elected to Nuview Union SD but fellow Republican David Shawn McCabe came up short.  Conservative Gary Tomak was re-elected to Desert Sands USD too.

My final piece of good news is that open-borders advocate, UCR professor Gil Navarro came in dead last for Beaumont-Cherry Valley Rec. & Park Dist. Director.  He makes me want to join the UCR alumni association just so I can quit over his anti-American rants.

So local bright spots DO exist for our party here in Riverside County, maybe not as bright as the 2004 map attached shows, but they do exist.  Please let me know in the comments section if I missed any other encouaging Republican wins in the county.  I'll get into some of the negatives of this election in a later post.  Here are the numbers as of November 5, 2008 6:30 AM when I started my good, bad and ugly breakdown:

Last Updated: November 5, 2008 6:30 AM

United States Representative, 41st District
218/233 93.56%
Vote Count Percent
REP - JERRY LEWIS 14,468 55.84%
DEM - TIM PRINCE 11,440 44.16%
Total 25,908 100.00%


United States Representative, 45th District
451/603 74.79%
 Vote Count Percent
REP - MARY BONO MACK 66,421 55.58%
DEM - JULIE BORNSTEIN 53,091 44.42%
Total 119,512 100.00%

United States Representative, 49th District
129/211 61.14%
 Vote Count Percent
REP - DARRELL ISSA 20,694 59.34%
DEM - ROBERT HAMILTON 12,749 36.56%
LIB - LARS R. GROSSMITH 1,432 4.11%
Total 34,875 100.00%

State Senator, 31st District
143/195 73.33%
 Vote Count Percent
REP - BOB DUTTON 30,160 52.81%
DEM - AMEENAH FULLER 26,945 47.19%
Total 57,105 100.00%

State Senator, 37th District
668/881 75.82%
 Vote Count Percent
REP - JOHN J. BENOIT 80,916 53.59%
DEM - ARTHUR BRAVO GUERRERO 70,078 46.41%
Total 150,994 100.00%

 

State Assembly Member, 64th District
309/393 78.63%
 Vote Count Percent
REP - BRIAN NESTANDE 59,559 100.00%
Total 59,559 100.00%

State Assembly Member, 66th District
139/236 58.90%
 Vote Count Percent
REP - KEVIN D. JEFFRIES 29,228 55.38%
DEM - GREY KENNETH FRANDSEN 23,549 44.62%
Total 52,777 100.00%

State Assembly Member, 71st District
50/110 45.45%
 Vote Count Percent
REP - JEFF MILLER 16,630 100.00%
Total 16,630 100.00%

 

Moreno Valley City Council Member, Dist. 3
22/23 95.65%
  Vote Count Percent
ROBIN HASTINGS 3,125 33.59%
MIKE RIOS 2,355 25.31%
FRANK WEST 1,832 19.69%
ROBERT BURKS 1,201 12.91%
RAY CARBAJAL 791 8.50%
Total 9,304 100.00%

 

Indio City Council Member
6/25 24.00%
 Vote Count Percent
GLENN MILLER 2,345 28.88%
GUADALUPE ''LUPE'' RAMOS WATSON 2,007 24.72%
MICHAEL H. WILSON 1,480 18.23%
PATRICK RUNYON 1,345 16.56%
STEVE SANCHEZ 943 11.61%
Total 8,120 100.00%

 

Lake Elsinore City Council Member
16/28 57.14%
 Vote Count Percent
BOB MAGEE 1,083 21.15%
AMY MARIE BHUTTA 815 15.91%
MELISSA ANN MELENDEZ 584 11.40%
MICHAEL O'NEAL 409 7.99%
JIMMY FLORES 390 7.62%
JOYCE SMITH 377 7.36%
MIKE NORKIN 359 7.01%
STEVE MANOS 331 6.46%
CAROLE A. FEENEY 319 6.23%
CHRIS HYLAND 246 4.80%
BARBARA L. ALONGI 208 4.06%
Total 5,121 100.00%

Murrieta City Council Member
20/46 43.48%
 Vote Count Percent
DOUGLAS MCALLISTER 6,756 35.56%
RANDON LANE 3,698 19.47%
NANCY KNIGHT 2,938 15.47%
WARNIE ENOCHS 2,369 12.47%
PAUL CLAY 2,066 10.88%
DAVID F. LANDRISCINA 1,170 6.16%
Total 18,997 100.00%

 

San Jacinto City Council Member
8/19 42.11%
 Vote Count Percent
JIM AYRES 2,191 44.83%
JIM POTTS 1,356 27.75%
STEVEN DI MEMMO 1,340 27.42%
Total 4,887 100.00%

 

Corona City Council Member
28/66 42.42%
Vote Count Percent
JASON SCOTT 7,168 29.46%
STEVE NOLAN 7,149 29.38%
BAXTER MILLER 5,648 23.21%
LOUIS DAVIS 2,318 9.53%
TIA MARIA MAGEE 2,052 8.43%
Total 24,335 100.00%

 

Hemet City Council Member
33/39 84.62%
  Vote Count Percent
JERRY FRANCHVILLE 4,674 15.41%
JIM FOREMAN 3,837 12.65%
ROBERT YOUSSEF 3,520 11.60%
BRIAN CHRISTIE 3,282 10.82%
SCOTT GARRETT 3,203 10.56%
LORI VAN ARSDALE 3,015 9.94%
ALFRED M. AYALA 3,014 9.94%
KAREN PRIDEMORE 2,090 6.89%
JIM CLAVERIE 1,624 5.35%
GARY CRAVEN 1,419 4.68%
ERROL THOMASON 654 2.16%
Total 30,332 100.00%

 

Perris Mayor
5/21 23.81%
  Vote Count Percent
DARYL BUSCH 1,140 67.90%
LOUIS D. ARMMAND 539 32.10%
Total 1,679 100.00%

 

Jurupa USD Governing Bd. Mbr., TA 4
23/39 58.97%
  Vote Count Percent
NOREEN CONSIDINE 4,025 52.95%
CARL E. HARRIS 3,577 47.05%
Total 7,602 100.00%

 

Nuview Union SD Governing Bd. Mbr.
14/14 100.00%
  Vote Count Percent
CHRISTINE UPTON 811 31.59%
TOMMY THOMPSON 631 24.58%
DAVID SHAWN MC CABE 469 18.27%
BRUCE DENNIS 347 13.52%
DIANE E. SHOTT 309 12.04%
Total 2,567 100.00%

Desert Sands USD Governing Bd. Mbr., FT
69/86 80.23%
  Vote Count Percent
MATT MONICA 14,988 27.53%
JIM KOEDYKER 14,000 25.71%
GARY TOMAK 13,031 23.93%
JOHN MENDOZA 12,433 22.83%
Total 54,452 100.00%

Western Municipal Water Dist. Director, Div. 4
29/77 37.66%
 Vote Count Percent
DONALD D. GALLEANO 8,316 65.82%
R.M. ''COOK'' BARELA 4,319 34.18%
Total 12,635 100.00%

Western Municipal Water Dist. Director, Div. 5
56/92 60.87%
 Vote Count Percent
S.R. ''AL'' LOPEZ 8,328 53.57%
DAVE LA VELLE 7,218 46.43%
Total 15,546 100.00%

Beaumont-Cherry Valley Rec & Park Dist. Director
77/79 97.47%
  Vote Count Percent
ADRIAN D. CHATIGNY 3,924 28.36%
GABRIEL M. SALINAS 3,606 26.06%
DAN HUGHES 3,597 26.00%
GILBERT A. NAVARRO 2,709 19.58%
Total 13,836 100.00%