Democratic Assemblyman Curren Price Jr. was leading a field of eight candidates in Tuesday's special election for the vacant 26th State Senate District seat but in early returns was falling short of the majority vote needed to avoid a runoff.
With just absentee ballots and 17 of 354 precincts counted Tuesday night, Price was leading with 30% of the vote.
The strongly bankrolled Price would likely face Nachum Shifren, a Republican, and Cindy Varela Henderson, of the Peace and Freedom Party, in a May 19 runoff in the heavily Democratic district. Tuesday's primary attracted five other Democrats, including Assemblyman Mike Davis of Los Angeles and financial analyst Jonathan Friedman, who raised a significant sum of money for the race.
