2012 Candidate Listing begins

With the close of the regular candidate filing period on Friday, work has started on the listing of candidates for the 2012 elections. Of the 155 partisan contests to be decided in November, two (for President and U.S. Senate) have many candidates from many parties and the information will be posted as it becomes available.

The other 153 are being broken down into four categories;

1. Extended Nominations – Races in which the incumbent officerholder has not filed to run for reelection (and the filing period has been extended until tomorrow (3/14). Because candidates can still file, the final number of candidates isn’t yet known.
2. Listed Contests – Races in which the filing period has closed (so we know who the candidates are) and the total number of candidates is 1 or 2. With California’s new primary system, both candidates will go on to the November General Election.
3. 3+ Candidates – In these races, the filing period has closed but there are three or more candidates who have qualified. In these cases, the candidates who will appear on the November ballot are not yet known.

The current break-down of candidate processing is;

Congress (53 seats)

• 9 contests have extended nomination periods
• 4 contests have been listed (all four have two candidates)
• 15 contests have three or more qualified candidates.
• 25 contests are spread over multiple counties and the qualified candidates have not yet been determined.

State Legislature (100 seats)

• 44 contests have extended nomination periods (9 in the Senate and 35 in the Assembly)
• 36 contests have been listed (33 have two candidates, 3 are single-candidate contests)
• 11 contests have three or more qualified candidates.
• 9 contests are spread over multiple counties and the qualified candidates have not yet been determined.