Election roundup: Vann loses Congress bid; Nielsen returns to Senate
Colusa County's own Kim Vann lost her bid to be a congresswoman, and the majority of the local voters who supported Mitt Romney saw a strong majority of their fellow Americans re-elect President Barack Obama.
Vann, who collected 67 percent of the Colusa County vote, faced an uphill battle to unseat Democratic Rep. John Garamendi in the new 3rd Congressional District. His strength was in the larger population centers, which pushed him to a convincing victory with better than 53 percent of the vote.
"It has been a privilege to spend the past 15 months talking with thousands of Californians about the issues facing this nation and running for this seat," Vann said in a statement. "I offer Congressman Garamendi my congratulations, and hope he will return to Washington, DC, ready to work for the residents of this new district."
Vann did not return a call seeking additional comment.
The county voters also lost out when it came to the US Senate, with Sen. Dianne Feinstein beating out Elizabeth Emken with 61.4 percent of the vote. Emken carried 56.73 percent of the vote in the county.
In the 4th Assembly District, where voters from Williams and the Arbuckle area backed Republican John Munn, incumbent Democrat Mariko Yamada carried the day with 62.1 percent.
The day was brighter for local voters in the 3rd Assembly District where Assemblyman Dan Logue, R-Loma Rica, topped Democrat Charles Rouse of Corning, and in the special state Senate race, where Jim Nielsen, R-Gerber, appears to have avoided even a January runoff with a 50.4 percent majority victory. It will be the second trip to the Senate for Nielsen, who chose not to run for one last term in the Assembly before being termed out. He had already once been termed out in the Senate.
Colusa County voters agreed with the majority of Californians on Propositions 31 (State Budget, State and Local Government), NO; 34 (Death Penalty), YES; 35 (Human Trafficking) YES; 36 (Three Strikes), YES: , 37 (Food Labeling), NO; 38 (Tax for Education), NO; and 40 (Senate Redistricting) YES but were on the losing side on Propositions 30 (Sales Tax), YES; 32 (Campaign Contributions), NO; 33 (Auto Insurance), NO; and 39 (Business Tax), YES.
Closer to home, Robin Rausch defeated Rita Rourke for Colusa city treasurer with 774 votes, or 51.74 percent of the tally. Rourke, whose husband Garr was the treasurer for more than a decade, garnered 710 votes (47.46 percent).
Elected to the Stonyford Trustee Area of the Stony Creek school district was Anita McCabe. She edged Diana Corkill 54-45.
In Williams, Trustee Noelle Mayes returns as the most popular choice with 525 votes, and will be joined on the board by Katie Davalos (471) and Selene Tapia (405). There were six candidates for the three seats. Finishing fourth was George Pence (290), followed by Rosa Meza (262) and Mechelle Coombs (185).
