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| Turnout | 55.2% (voting eligible)[1] | |||||||||||||||
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  Feinstein: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% Emken: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% | ||||||||||||||||
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| Elections in California |
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The 2012 United States Senate election in California took place on November 6, 2012, concurrently with the 2012 U.S. presidential election as well as other elections to the United States Senate and House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
The primary election on June 5 took place under California's new blanket primary law, where all candidates appear on the same ballot, regardless of party. In the primary, voters voted for any candidate listed, or write-in any other candidate. The top two finishers—regardless of party—advanced to the general election in November, even if a candidate managed to receive a majority of the votes cast in the June primary. In the primary, less than 15% of the total 2010 census population voted. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein announced her intention to run for a fourth full term in April 2011[2] and finished first in the blanket primary with 49.5% of the vote. The second-place finisher was Republican candidate and autism activist Elizabeth Emken, who won 12.7% of the vote.
Feinstein ultimately defeated Emken in the general election on November 6, winning 62.5% of the vote to Emken's 37.5%. Feinstein's total of 7.86 million popular votes was the most ever received by a candidate for U.S. Senate in American history until Adam Schiff won the same seat with over 8 million votes in 2024.[3] For a full decade, Emken was the only Republican candidate to have advanced to a general U.S. Senate election in California, as only Democratic candidates advanced to the general election in 2016 and 2018; however, this streak was broken in 2022.
- ^ Dr. Michael McDonald (February 9, 2013). "2012 General Election Turnout Rates". George Mason University. Archived from the original on April 24, 2013. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
- ^ Marinucci, Carla (April 30, 2011). "US Sen. Dianne Feinstein on nuclear energy and her 2012 re-election: "My plan is to run"". San Francisco Chronicle Politics Blog. Archived from the original on January 22, 2012.
- ^ Mahtesian, Charles (November 26, 2012). "Feinstein's record: 7.3 million votes". POLITICO. Retrieved February 12, 2020.