Incumbents win primary races

Familiar faces topped the polls in Tuesday’s primary for offices in Sacramento and Washington, D.C.

Incumbent Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank), state Sen. Carol Liu (D-La Cañada Flintridge) and Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Silver Lake) all received the highest votes in their races for re-election Tuesday. They will appear alongside the number-two vote-getters in their respective races on Nov. 6.

Schiff, a seven-term congressman whose realigned 28th Congressional District will include La Cañada in 2013 but will only contain a sliver of Pasadena, will face Republican Phil Jennerjahn, a member of the Westside Republicans who previously ran for mayor of Los Angeles. Schiff got 59.5% of the vote in the district, which stretches from the foothills to West Hollywood, and Jennerjahn won 17%. Four other candidates split the rest of the votes cast.

Liu, a former La Cañada city councilwoman seeking her second and final term in the state Senate, will face Republican Gilbert Gonzalez, a government affairs director for Vons and Safeway and former legislative director for state Sen. Bob Dutton (R-Ranch Cucamonga).

Liu won 51% of the vote, Gonzalez earned 43% and Upland Democrat Ameenah Fuller received 5%.

In 2013, La Cañada will be part of the realigned 43rd Assembly District, which includes Glendale and Burbank and where Gatto is the incumbent.

Gatto took 56% of the vote while Republican Greg Krikorian, a member of the Glendale Unified School District Board of Trustees, got 44%.

The assemblyman who currently represents La Cañada, former La Cañada City Councilman Anthony Portantino, will be forced out of office by term limits at the end of the year. Furthermore, the 44th District seat he holds has been redrawn to exclude La Cañada while adding several foothill cities to the east.

FOR THE RECORD: An earlier version of this story misstated the number of Assemblyman Portantino’s district.
The top two-vote getters in the new district including Pasadena and Altadena were Pasadena City Councilman Chris Holden, a Democrat, and Claremont businesswoman Donna Lowe, a Republican. Holden earned 34% of the vote in the five-person race, while Lowe got 21%.

In one of the most closely watched races in the country, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) beat Rep. Howard Berman (D-Valley Village), 42% to 34%, topping less well-known candidates and setting up a rare incumbent vs. incumbent showdown in November.