2022 United States Senate elections in California

Two 2022 United States Senate elections in California were held concurrently on November 8, 2022, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of California. There were two ballot items for the same Class 3 seat: a special election to fill the seat for the final weeks of the 117th United States Congress (ending on January 3, 2023), and a general election for a full term (beginning on the same day), starting in the 118th United States Congress.

Incumbent Democratic Senator Alex Padilla was appointed in 2021 by Governor Gavin Newsom to fill the vacancy created by Kamala Harris's election to the vice presidency in 2020, and he sought a full term. A jungle primary for each of the terms took place on June 7. The top two candidates in each primary, regardless of party, advanced to the special and regular general elections in November. With his advancement out of the primary, Mark P. Meuser became the first Republican since 2012 to advance to the general election, as both the 2016 and 2018 Senate elections solely featured Democrats as the top two candidates. This race was a rematch between the two, as both had previously run for the secretary of state in 2018. Padilla won both elections with more than 60% of the vote. He became the first Latino elected to the U.S. Senate from California, and the first male elected to the Senate from California since Pete Wilson was re-elected in 1988 and the first male elected to the Class 3 Senate seat from California since Alan Cranston was re-elected in 1986. This was the first time since 1988 where both major party nominees for a Senate seat in California were men and was also the first time where both major party nominees for the Class 3 Senate seat in California were men since 1986.

This was the best performance for a Republican candidate in a California Senate election since 2010.

Advanced to general

 * Alex Padilla, incumbent U.S. Senator (2021–present) and former secretary of state of California (2015–2021)

Eliminated in primary

 * Akinyemi Agbede, mathematician
 * Dan O'Dowd, founder and president of Green Hills Software and candidate for U.S. Senate in 1994
 * Douglas Howard Pierce, businessman and candidate for U.S. Senate in 2018
 * Obaidul Huq Pirjada, attorney
 * Timothy J. Ursich, doctor

Declined

 * Ro Khanna, U.S. Representative for California's 17th congressional district (2017–present) (endorsed Padilla)

Advanced to general

 * Mark P. Meuser, attorney and candidate for California Secretary of State in 2018

Eliminated in primary

 * James P. Bradley, businessman, candidate for U.S. Senate in 2018, and candidate for CA's 33rd congressional district in 2020
 * Jon Elist, small business owner
 * Myron L. Hall, physician
 * Sarah Sun Liew, entrepreneur
 * Robert George Lucero Jr., consultant
 * Enrique Petris, businessman
 * Chuck Smith, retired law enforcement officer
 * Carlos Guillermo Tapia, businessman
 * Cordie Williams, marine veteran and doctor
 * Lijun Zhou, businesswoman (write-in, general election only)

Withdrawn

 * Yvonne R. Girard, retired government employee (died)
 * Elizabeth Heng, candidate for CA's 16th congressional district in 2018 and former U.S. House staffer (ran in the CA-22 special election)

Eliminated in primary

 * James "Henk" Conn, educator and candidate for mayor of Long Beach in 2018
 * Pamela Elizondo, entrepreneur

Eliminated in primary

 * John Parker, candidate for U.S. Senate in 2018 and Workers World nominee for President of the United States in 2004 (running as write-in for special election)

Eliminated in primary

 * Daphne Bradford, entrepreneur and candidate for president in 2020
 * Eleanor Garcia, industrial worker (Socialist Workers Party)
 * Don J. Grundmann, chiropractor (Constitution Party)
 * Deon D. Jenkins
 * Irene Ratliff (write-in, both general and special elections)
 * Marc Alexander Roth (write-in, general election only)
 * Mark A. Ruzon (write-in, general election only), software engineer (American Solidarity Party)

Campaign
Incumbent senator Alex Padilla was appointed to the job in January 2021 following Kamala Harris's election to the office of Vice President of the United States. Following his appointment, Padilla quickly began to focus on his 2022 election campaign, as the fact that he has not been elected to the position means that he has a relatively low profile. Padilla's election strategy focused on advocating for progressive policies and building ties with left-wing organizations that had a poor relationship with California's other Senator, Dianne Feinstein. The potential Democratic opponent to Padilla considered most likely to join the race was U.S. Representative Ro Khanna, a staunchly left-wing Democrat who rose to prominence as the co-chair of the Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign, and who had a loyal base of support from California's Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities. On August 9, 2021, Khanna announced that he would be endorsing Padilla for election, which was viewed as likely ending any possibility that Padilla would face a serious Democratic opponent. It was noted by the San Francisco Chronicle that it was considered unlikely that Padilla would face any serious Republican opponent, as California's heavily Democratic lean caused potentially strong candidates, such as U.S. Representatives Mike Garcia and Young Kim, to prefer to remain in their positions rather than launch a long-shot Senate run.

In April 2022, billionaire businessman Dan O'Dowd entered the race, launching a $650,000 ad campaign. O'Dowd's goal with this ad buy, and with entering the race in the first place, was to "make computers safe for humanity" and draw the attention of the public and politicians to the dangers of Tesla's unfinished Full Self-Driving software being rolled out to 100,000 cars on public roads.

Results
[[File:2022 United States Senate special primary election in California results map by county.svg|thumb|300px|Results by county {{legend|#7996E2|Padilla}}

{{legend|#BDD3FF|30–40%}}

{{legend|#A5B0FF|40–50%}}

{{legend|#7996E2|50–60%}}

{{legend|#6674DE|60–70%}}

{{legend|#584CDE|70–80%}} {{legend|#e27f7f|Meuser}}

{{legend|#FFC8CD|30–40%}}

{{legend|#FFB2B2|40–50%}} ]]

Results
[[File:2022 United States Senate primary election in California results map by county.svg|thumb|300px|Results by county {{legend|#7996E2|Padilla}}

{{legend|#DFEEFF|20–30%}}

{{legend|#BDD3FF|30–40%}}

{{legend|#A5B0FF|40–50%}}

{{legend|#7996E2|50–60%}}

{{legend|#6674DE|60–70%}}

{{legend|#584CDE|70–80%}} {{legend|#e27f7f|Meuser}}

{{legend|#FFE0EA|20–30%}} ]]

Polling

 * Special election


 * Regular election

By congressional district
Padilla won 42 of 52 congressional districts in the regular election, including two that elected Republicans.