Stay up to date with free briefings on topics that are important to all Californians. Subscribe to CalMatters today to get nonprofit news delivered to your inbox.

Read this story on Spanish

As Republicans celebrated a national red wave, California voters affirmed the state’s strong blue politics by easily electing a Democrat to the U.S. Senate and maintaining a Democratic supermajority in the state Legislature.

But voters were less enthusiastic about progressive ballot initiatives, and it remains unclear whether California’s contested congressional seats will help keep the U.S. House of Representatives under Democratic control.

like a second presidency of donald trump loomed over California, the state chose a new US senator in Adam Schiff. Schiff, a Democrat from Burbank, made a national name in the U.S. House of Representatives by leading the prosecution of Trump’s first impeachment trial and for his key role in the investigation of the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol.

But the result of the The six most contested congressional races in California was undecided Wednesday morning, and some races saw changes in the leading candidate as results came in. The California races were being watched closely as control of the U.S. House of Representatives was still undetermined, but full results could take days or longer to complete.

California voters also hesitated to fully embrace a progressive agenda on ballot measures. They emphatically passed a initiative to increase criminal penaltiesa measure opposed by Governor Gavin Newsom and the progressive wing of the Legislature. Once again they rejected an electoral initiative that would have allowed a expansion of rent control.

And they ousted a progressive prosecutor in Los Angeles County, the state’s largest.

“It’s just one of those things where loyalty to Democratic candidates and support for Democratic candidates doesn’t always mean loyalty to all progressive causes,” said Paul Mitchell, an election analyst.

Media outlets called Democrat Kamala Harris the winner of the state’s electoral votes by the time polls closed at 8 p.m., and also quickly called the race to reclaim the U.S. Senate seat she held. longtime Democrat Dianne Feinstein until her death last year. Schiff was victorious against Steve Garvey, a former Los Angeles Dodgers star seeking to become the first Republican elected statewide in 18 years. Schiff won a six-year term to replace Sen. Laphonza Butler, who decided not to run for re-election after Newsom appointed her to replace Feinstein, who died last year.

On ballot measures, voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 36, opposed by progressives, which increases penalties for certain crimes, and partial vote totals show they reject progressive-sponsored Proposition 6 that would ban labor forced into prisons. Proposition 33, which would expand rent control, failed.

Proposition 32, which raise the minimum wagewas too close to match, as were several others state proposals.

Meanwhile, Democrats maintained their supermajority in the state Legislature, allowing them to raise taxes or put ballot initiatives on the ballot without a single Republican vote.

Mike Gatto, a former Democratic state legislator from Los Angeles, warned members of his party, however, not to view the supermajority as a mandate to adopt far-left policies in response to Trump’s return to power. Gatto noted that California voters appear to have signaled support for a more moderate platform through the state’s ballot initiatives. Given the national election results, Gatto said California’s elected Democrats should be careful not to appear too liberal.

“I think it would be wise for California Democrats to try to tone down the agenda a little bit,” Gatto said.

In Los Angeles County, voters elected Nathan Hochman, a former federal prosecutor who is running for state attorney general as a Republican in 2022, to replace incumbent District Attorney George Gascón, a progressive.

Some experts say the votes show California has more nuanced political views than its national reputation as a liberal bastion suggests.

Christian Grose, a political science professor at the University of Southern California, called the mix fairly typical of California.

“It looks like the state as a whole is still going Democratic, and could tilt the House of Representatives toward Democrats,” he said, “while supporting policies that are sometimes a little more conservative and a little more liberal.”

A note of caution about California’s overnight election results: For some of the closest races, it may be weeks before we know the final result. Although this has fueled distrust among voters, the reasons are not dire.

Since 2020, California has sent a mail-in ballot to every registered voter, a convenience that requires additional verification by local election officials when it is returned, including signature authentication and verification that the voter has not already cast your vote in another jurisdiction. Counting mail-in votes requires much more manual labor than other votes, as workers must open envelopes, remove ballots, line them up for counting machines, and duplicate damaged ballots that cannot be read.

California accepts ballots that arrive up to seven days late as long as they are postmarked by Election Day and gives voters the opportunity to correct missing or mismatched signatures. These delays are deliberate to minimize the number of legitimate voters disqualified for procedural reasons and ensure a safe and accurate count.

CalMatters Capitol reporter Alexei Koseff contributed to this story.