Voters Overwhelmingly Support Congressmembers Schiff and Chu

Pasadena’s federal and state lawmakers — all Democrats — cruised to easy victories in Tuesday’s election.

L.A. County election returns show U.S. Reps. Adam Schiff and Judy Chu will return to Congress, and state Sen. Anthony Portantino and Assemblymember Chris Holden will continue their work in the state Legislature. 

Holden, a former Pasadena City Councilman and mayor, defeated Robin Hvidston by a 107,747 to 45,159 vote difference, or a 70.47 to 29.3 spread. 

Portantino successfully defended his seat in the state Senate, defeating Kathleen Hazelton with a 217,743 to 110,894 vote performance, or a 66.26 to 33.74 percent difference.

Schiff, a constant critic of President Donald Trump, had no problem defeating GOP candidate and ardent Trump supporter Eric Early in the 28th Congressional District race. Schiff garnered 194,417 votes, just more than 74 percent of the ballots cast in that contest.   

In the race for the 27th Congressional District seat held by Chu, the popular lawmaker defeated Republican Johnny Nalbandian by 163,842 to 63,679 votes, a 72.01 to 28.99 difference.

California has seen record-shattering early voting in this election, with over 9 million people casting ballots just days before Election Day.

In-person voting started for most California counties last weekend, as local election officials — many for the first time — opened polling places days ahead of time in hopes of avoiding crushing crowds on Tuesday.

This year, all voters got a ballot in the mail, part of the state’s effort to encourage people to vote remotely and avoid the possibility of spreading COVID-19, which has killed more than 17,500 Californians and infected more than 900,000. 

So far, more than 9.4 million people have returned their ballots, accounting for nearly two-thirds of all votes Californians cast during the 2016 presidential election.