We're calling it:

Curren Price (D) of Culver City is your next representative for California State Senate District 26. He beat opponent Nachum Shifren (R) by a landslide.

*OK, so we fibbed in the headline. The final results aren't in and the polls haven't closed. But thanks to sleazy incumbent fixing of elections in California — the Weekly explains gerrymandering here — the new crop of California State Legislators was chosen months ago.

Of the seven senatorial seats in L.A. County up for contention this November (seven more will open in 2011), all will be filled by Democratic shoo-ins. Six of the seven are Latino — and one died two weeks ago.

It's bizarre: Jenny Oropeza (D), incumbent for the senatorial seat of the Long Beach area, is running against John S. Stammreich (R – no chance whatsoever). Thing is, Oropeza died of cancer two weeks ago.

Still, her camp has been sending out mailers like nothing's wrong, encouraging locals to vote for the six-feet-under incumbent. That way, the party can hold a special election for its Democrat of choice once this round of voting is over.

You know democracy has gone stale when a dead candidate can woo the majority.

In the whole of California, political experts agree that a measly 10 of 153 total races for the state Senate, Assembly and the House of Representatives were close enough to even call a contest.

Of 80 Assembly seats, about half a dozen saw hot races, while only one of 20 Senate seats and one of 53 House seats hosted any competition at all. Of those, most were in the Central Valley; L.A. was at a virtual standstill, with the vague exception of California State Assembly District 36.

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