At the state level, San Diego’s representation remains mostly as is for the next election cycle. Assemblymember Christine Kehoe managed to clean up in the 39th State Senate race against Larry Stirling, taking Dede Alpert’s old seat. In the race to fill the 76th State Assembly seat Kehoe vacated due to term limits, Democratic first-timer Lori Saldaña beat Republican nominee Tricia Hunter despite early returns showing Hunter with a slight lead among absentee voters. Projected results show incumbent Shirley Horton narrowly beating Democratic challenger Patty Davis, maintaining the Republican lock on the 78th Assembly District. All three had been considered battleground races, where both Republicans and Democrats poured major funds into achieving wins for their party. Most sectors had traditionally voted Democrat.

With only the absentee ballots counted in the State Senate race for the 39th District, Kehoe held an impressive lead early in the evening over Stirling. As the night progressed, Kehoe’s lead continued to grow until she had nearly doubled Stirling’s numbers, taking 60 percent of the votes.

“My opponent’s campaign never really could create any momentum, and it’s hard to win a race when you don’t have people behind you,” Kehoe said from the floor of Golden Hall, as she made the rounds to local news stations. “We had tremendous support; volunteers and staff. I know what it takes and we had a really top team.”

It was an early night for Kehoe, who celebrated victory in her party room at Golden Hall surrounded by volunteers and supporters. She will head to Sacramento to prepare for the transition to the State Senate early next month.

“We’ll be sworn in on Dec. 6,” Kehoe said. “We hope to chair a committee and we want to work hard to be part of the [State] Senate leadership. You know, there are so many challenges facing California: the deficit, the environment, our energy crisis. We’re going to work on all of them. I’m very enthused and looking forward to solving problems.”

As Kehoe celebrated her win, it was still too early to call the race for the 76th and 78th Assembly District seats.

“We hope Lori Saldaña and Patty Davis win,” Kehoe commented at the time. “That’s what we’re hoping for, and until I see numbers, that’s where I am going to stay.”

With only the absentee ballots counted, Hunter and Horton held the lead in their respective races. Once precincts started reporting around 10:00 p.m. on election night, the numbers in the 76th race shifted into Saldaña’s favor.

“We knew that she needed a lot more of this district,” Saldaña said about Hunter’s early lead. “You know, we had a positive message and it overcame all of the negative attacks. And we stayed focused on our ideas and message on schools, our environment and marriage rights, and that’s what won the day.”

With Hunter heavily courting the GLBT vote and picking up endorsements from Log Cabin Republicans and District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, Saldaña picked up key support from GLBT leaders at the state level, including that of Kehoe, who held the seat for the last six years.

“She’s been so supportive and really great at getting people here and to help us out; like having other Assembly members coming down – like Mark Leno and Sheila Kuehl – and also speaking out in support of me when I wasn’t able to be at an event,” Saldaña said. “You know, this was my first time as a candidate, so I really had to keep working the streets and walking the precincts, so when there were events that Chris was able to be at, she really supported me.”

Claiming 54 percent of the votes to Hunter’s 40 percent, Saldaña proved that she could take on the veteran politician and professional lobbyist in the race, despite the fact that Hunter’s negative campaigning sought to discredit Saldaña throughout the final weeks of the election.

“I new it would be tough, and it’s just unfortunate that the Republicans, the only way they thought they could win was through negative and, frankly, very bigoted attack ads,” Saldaña said. “I am so glad that this district saw through that and we won, and the whole state needs to look at what happened here and work on improving that.”

Saldaña, who will also be sworn in on Dec. 6 in Sacramento, is wasting no time in getting her new office up and running.

“I will be in Sacramento tomorrow and we will be talking about the year ahead and the session ahead, and we will be looking for ways to get some funding for infrastructure for our sewage system that’s still having problems,” she said.

Davis conceded to Horton in the 78th Assembly District race late Wednesday morning. While Horton enjoyed a 6-percent lead through most of the evening, the race narrowed to 49-47 in favor of the incumbent.