California Primary Election 2006 Watch: CA – 50 GOP Brian Bilbray Leads
Brian Bilbray, Republican candidate in the 50th congressional district, left, talks with a supporter at an election night party in San Diego, Tuesday, June 6, 2006.
ASSociated Press: Ex-GOP congressman ahead in Calif. race
A former Republican congressman led in early results Tuesday in a closely watched House race that was being seen as a barometer of voter attitudes ahead of the midterm elections.
Former Rep. Brian Bilbray was leading Democrat Francine Busby in the solidly Republican San Diego-area district about 30 miles north of the Mexican border. The immigration debate and a GOP corruption scandal dominated the campaign for the House seat held by Randy “Duke” Cunningham before he went to prison for bribery.
Tuesday’s victor will serve the remaining seven months of Cunningham’s term.
With 11 percent of precincts reporting in absentee voting, Bilbray had 20,448 votes, or 51 percent, compared with 17,329 votes, or 43 percent, for Busby.
Busby, a local school board member who ran against Cunningham in 2004, focused her campaign on public dissatisfaction with the Bush administration and the GOP-led Congress. She assailed Bilbray for working as a lobbyist in Washington and routinely referred to him as “lobbyist Bilbray.”
Democrats spent nearly $2 million on the high-stakes contest, and the GOP spent more than $4 million. President Bush and first lady Laura Bush recorded automated telephone messages for Bilbray. A mass e-mailing from Sen. John Kerry, the party’s 2004 presidential candidate, was sent last week to more than 100,000 supporters, urging them to help get out the vote. Al Gore also recorded a phone message telling Democrats to go to the polls.
It looks like the GOP and Brian Bilbray have held the seat.
The results can be viewed throughout the night and morning here.
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