SACRAMENTO, California — California Democrats will lose a state Senate seat to Republicans after a powerful labor union campaigned against the longtime Orange County lawmaker.
State Sen. Josh Newman on Monday conceded to former GOP Assemblymember Steven Choi after the Republican opened up an insurmountable lead of more than 6,000 votes.
“With the most recent ballot updates, the numbers have made it clear that my campaign no longer has a viable path to a positive outcome in this election,” Newman said in a statement.
Newman — the most endangered purple-district Democrat in the Senate — faced opposition from an unusual source : AFSCME 3299, which represents 30,000 University of California employees. The union went after Newman after he didn’t support a bill that would have amended the state constitution to protect UC worker rights.
The group spent big boosting Newman’s Democratic opponents in the March primary. When that effort failed, it shifted to attacking the senator directly during the general election — even if that meant boosting Newman’s Republican rival.