Republican Wins Election To Fill State Senate Seat

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Republican Assemblyman Ted Gaines won a special election Tuesday to succeed a Republican state senator who died in office last year.

The Associated Press called the race for Gaines as he led 63 percent to 37 percent over Democrat Ken Cooley. The pair emerged as the top vote-getters in their parties after the special primary Nov. 2.

Gaines declared victory and immediately promised he would not vote to raise taxes.

"We're going to work really hard on balancing our budget and controlling our spending, and we're going to do our best to create private sector jobs in California and turn our economy around," he said in a telephone interview.

As an assemblyman, Gaines already represents nearly a third of the 1st Senate District, which had been represented by the late Sen. Dave Cox, a Republican from Fair Oaks.

Republicans hold an 11-point voter registration advantage in the senate district, 44 percent to Democrats' 33 percent, with 18 percent decline-to-state.

The district stretches from the Oregon border south to Mono Lake and includes all or parts of Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, El Dorado, Lassen, Modoc, Mono, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento and Sierra counties.

Gaines, 52, won re-election to a third Assembly term in November. His election to the Senate will force another special election to fill his 4th Assembly District seat representing all or parts of Alpine, El Dorado, Placer and Sacramento counties.

Gaines said his wife, Beth, is strongly considering running for his Assembly seat.

Cooley conceded the race late Tuesday, saying he is certain he and Gaines can work amicably together in the Senate. Cooley is a legislative consultant to the Senate Banking, Finance and Insurance Committee, as well as serving as Rancho Cordova's mayor.

Both Gaines and Cooley, 57, said Cox set a high standard for his successor.

Cox, who died in July of prostate cancer at age 72, was "very much a front-row leader working on the state's problems, able to work across the aisle, to disagree without being disagreeable, someone who was able to affect change," Cooley said.

Tuesday's special runoff election was required because no candidate won more than 50 percent of the vote in the November. Cooley was the sole Democrat, while Gaines was the top vote-getter among three Republicans in a primary campaign that drew far more attention and money than Tuesday's low-key general election.

"The primary was really the battle in this election," Gaines said.

Gaines said he expects to be sworn in as state senator on Thursday.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)