As the nation awaits the final results of the much-anticipated presidential race, other outcomes at the national and state level have been all but decided.
According to results tallied Thursday, 20th District Congressman Jimmy Panetta, a Democrat, had a massive lead over challenger Jeff Gorman, a Republican. With nearly four-fifths of the vote, Panetta looked primed to return to the House of Representatives for his third term.
The District 20 seat represents parts of Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Benito and Santa Clara counties. He had received 83.2% of the vote in Santa Cruz County as of Thursday.
In the race for the 17th District State Senate seat, Democrat John Laird had tallied more than two-thirds of the vote by Thursday to take a large lead over Republican Vicki Nohrden.
Laird, the Secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency from 2011-19 and a former State Assemblyman, had received 78.5% of the vote in his home county of Santa Cruz.
The District 17 seat also represents parts of Monterey, Santa Clara and San Luis Obispo counties.
State Assemblymen Mark Stone and Robert Rivas were also cruising to reelection in their respective districts.
Stone, a Democrat who holds the 29th District seat, was leading Republican Shomir Banerjee with about three-fourths of the vote Thursday.
Rivas, a Democrat representing the 30th District, held 70.7% of the vote, putting him in front of Republican Gregory Swett.
