Indicted state Sen. Leland Yee looks to finish a relatively strong third in the race for California Secretary of State, despite the fact that he dropped out of the race months ago, according to the Los Angeles Times election results tracker.
Republican Pete Peterson and Democrat Alex Padilla were widely expected to advance to the general election in November, and with 83.5% of precincts reporting, they have indeed both advanced.
However, it is Leland Yee’s modest success in the race that is most bewildering; Yee dropped out of the race in March after being indicted on corruption and gun-running charges, although his name still appears on the ballot. Yee managed to garner 10% of the vote, and leads the Independent candidate Dan Schnur by at least 25,000 votes.
It appears that for all the talk of California’s new “jungle” primary system being favorable to Independent candidates, an inactive, indicted candidate with a “D” next to his name still managed to beat the Independent Schnur, whose campaign was still very much active. It looks for now as if Independent candidates in California still have a bit of a hurdle to get over when it comes to challenging those candidates with established Party ties.
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