Vidak wins election, but faces runoff with Perez in Senate District 16 Election

Republican Andy Vidak, the winner in a 16th Senate District special election, will now face a runoff with Democrat opponent Kern County Supervisor Leticia Perez.  The special election held Tuesday, May 21, saw five candidates running for the Senate seat vacated by former Senator Marco Rubio, with Vidak and Perez  the leading candidates.   Because it is a special election, one candidate had to win more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a July 23 runoff against the second-place finisher. Rubio's surprise resignation in February spurred the special election in the district he represented, which has since been redrawn into oblivion. 

It initially appeared that Republican farmer Andy Vidak built a big enough lead in last week's 16th Senate District election to avert a runoff, but the Secretary of State's official results show Vidak dipping below the needed 50-percent-plus-one margin, largely resulting from a surge in provisional ballots favoring Perez.  A provisional ballot is used to record a vote when there are questions about a given voter's eligibility.  Whether a provisional ballot is counted is contingent upon the verification of that voter's eligibility. Generally, provisional ballots are not counted until 7–10 days after the election.

This means Vidak and Perez will square off in a July 23 general election. Vidak still bested Perez by a few percentage points -- the final tally gave him 49.8 percent to Perez's 43.9 percent -- but a field cleared of other candidates could shake things up.

A Vidak win would not deprive Senate Democrats of their two-thirds super majority, but it would reduce it to a more precarious 28-12 margin – one more than what the Democratic Senate needs to retain their ability to do things like pass new taxes or constitutional amendments without Republican input.