Openly gay candidates fared well in the statewide and local primary elections on June 6.

Openly gay Deputy District Attorney David Rubin won San Diego Superior Court Office 49 judgeship with 51.1 percent of the vote over former district attorney Paul Pfingst, who earned 48.8 percent.

“I am very gratified that the voters looked at my opponent, they looked at me and they evaluated me based on my credentials and my ability to do the job,” Rubin said. “We ran on a campaign that talked about ethics, integrity and honesty on the bench [and] in government, and that was a message that resonated with the voters, so we were really happy about that.”

Rubin said he is excited and enthusiastic about his new role serving the public.

“I can’t wait to be a judge. I’m going to be the kind of judge that all San Diegans can feel comfortable appearing before,” he said.

Rubin will be sworn in on Jan. 8. He said due to his victory he can no longer appear in court and will be relieved of case responsibilities.

“We are grooming a successor to bring enthusiasm and openness to the role of hate crimes prosecutor,” Rubin said.

In a close run-off race for the 50th Congressional District, the same district Randy “Duke” Cunningham resigned from for taking roughly $2.4 million in bribes, Republican candidate Brian Bilbray captured 49.3 percent to Democratic candidate Francine Busby’s 45.4 percent. Bilbray will serve out the remainder of Cunningham’s term until the end of 2006 and face Busby in another run-off election in November for the next congressional term, which begins in 2007.

San Diego Democratic Club president Stephen Whitburn said Francine Busby will have the additional challenge of facing Bilbray as an incumbent, but the November elections tend to bring out more Democratic voters.

“So if there’s greater voter turnout in November, and in particular greater Democratic turnout, that could push her over the top,” he said. “It’s likely to be a close race.”

Openly gay candidate John Rinaldi won the Democratic primary in the 52nd Congressional District, capturing 38.8 percent of the vote, compared to 19.6 percent for Derek Casady.

Rinaldi faces Republican incumbent Duncan Hunter in November’s general election. According to data from the San Diego County Registrar of Voters, the 52nd Congressional District is heavily Republican.

Adrian Kwiatkowski, a lobbyist with The Monger Company, said that since the district has a majority of registered Republican voters, Rinaldi has no chance of winning.

“Congratulations, he was elected captain of the Titanic last night,” Kwiatkowski said.

Whitburn doesn’t necessarily agree. “You never want to give a free ride to the Republicans because that just enables them to focus their energies on other races,” he said. “… [Rinaldi] faces an uphill battle in that district with its large Republican registration advantage. However, this has not been a good year for the Republicans.”

Supervisor Ron Roberts won his re-election campaign for the County Board of Supervisors’ District 4, capturing a commanding 60.5 percent of the vote to Democratic challenger Richard Barrera’s 28.7 percent.

“It’s a nice, big number and makes you feel appreciated by the people in the district,” Roberts said.

Councilmembers Kevin Faulconer, Tony Young, Donna Frye and Ben Hueso all easily won their respective re-election campaigns in their council districts.

In the race for Chula Vista mayor, Cheryl Cox received the most votes with 40.7 percent. The incumbent, openly gay Chula Vista Mayor Steve Padilla, came in second, capturing 31.3 percent, setting up a run-off election with Cox in November. Steve Castaneda received 24.5 percent for third place.

“If you’re an incumbent and more people vote against you, you have a problem,” Kwiatkowski said.

Whitburn believes Padilla still has a chance to win re-election against Cox in November.

“If all of the Democratic votes now go to Steve Padilla in what is a Democratic district, we can hope that he will win re-election,” he said.

Openly gay candidate Ralph Denney won the Republican primary race for the state Assembly 76th District. Denney took 57.1 percent of the vote, while his opponent, Jeffrey Perwin, received 42.8 percent.

“Jeff and I were conducting two entirely different campaigns, and I was confident that mine was going to turn out to be more effective,” Denney said.

Denney added that he won the same way the gay community is winning, “by being out there and letting the people see me and to see who I am.”

He will face incumbent Assemblymember Lori Saldaña in the general election. Saldaña’s district is predominantly Democratic, but Denney believes he will fare well come November.

“I think I’m going to surprise a lot of people,” he said. “… It’s going to be a very difficult campaign to say the least, but I believe that if people give me the opportunity to speak, they’ll find that they would much more agree with me than they do with her.”

The race for the Democratic primary in the 51st Congressional District was won by incumbent Rep. Bob Filner, who captured 51.3 percent of the vote, compared to 43.4 percent for his challenger, Assemblymember Juan Vargas.

Filner, another longtime supporter of the GLBT community, has gone relatively unchallenged over his years in office, but Vargas posed a threat throughout the election. Vargas did not vote in favor of the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act and supported the Boys Scouts of America’s preferential land lease in Balboa Park.

San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis ran unopposed and was re-elected for a second term.

In the Democratic primary for governor, State Treasurer Phil Angelides defeated Controller Steve Westly, who was endorsed by the Gay & Lesbian Times, 48 to 44 percent, respectively. Angelides will face Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in the fall, as Schwarzenegger faced no credible competition in his Republican primary race.

In state Assembly District 44, Anthony Portantino, brother of Gay & Lesbian Times publisher Michael Portantino, won the Democratic primary with 42.9 percent of the vote compared to challenger Adam Murray, who received 26.2 percent. In the November run-off election, Anthony Portantino will face Republican Scott Carwile. According to Los Angeles County voting records, the 44th Assembly district is heavily Democratic, which may allow Portantino an easy victory.