Now that all votes have been counted, what's next for the candidates?
Ken Cooley and , the top two candidates left standing after Tuesday's primary contest for the new Assembly District 8 seat, will face each other in the November general election.
In the congressional race for District 7, incumbent Dan Lungren (R-Gold River) and Ami Bera finished 1-2 and will square off in a rematch of the 2010 general election.
There were few surprises Tuesday evening. Both Cooley and Tateishi were endorsed by the Sacramento Bee and their respective party establishments before the primary. Tateishi, Lungren's chief of staff, from fellow Republican Barbara Ortega before finishing a distant second to Cooley, a Democrat and Rancho Cordova city councilman.
A Republican candidate from Rosemont, Phillip Tufi, finished last.
In the congressional race, Lungren earned 52 percent of the vote to Bera's 40 percent. The margin was about the same as the Republican incumbent's vote total when he beat Bera in the 2010 general election.
Tuesday's election was the first under new California voting rules that redrew the state's districts and set up an open primary. The new system created districts with more parity between the two major parties, which helps moderates like Cooley and Tateishi.
According to maps from the Sacramento Bee, the new District 8 is split between 40 percent registered Democrats and 37 percent registered Republicans. Eighteen percent are independent voters.
Cooley said the new system will help impact the next phase of the campaign.
"In politics in California, you have traditional alliances—Big Business goes one way, other groups go another way," he said. "I’m not sure in this race if it will line up that way. I think that will be interesting to watch."
