U.S. Congress - Pallant stumbles in race for 24th

Marta Jorgensen, a teacher from Solvang, pulled a surprise victory in Tuesday's Democratic primary for the 24th Congressional District.

Longtime incumbent Elton Gallegly was an easy winner on the Republican side.

The 24th District comprises most of Ventura County and inland Santa Barbara County, and includes more than 650,000 residents.

During the campaign, Jorgensen had dropped out of the race for a period of several weeks and announced her support for competitor Jill Martinez. She then changed course and jumped back into the fray.

Jorgensen captured 46.1 percent of the vote, while Martinez, an affordable housing developer and former Presbyterian minister, earned 31.6 percent. Oak Park insurance agent Mary Pallant received 23.3 percent.

"We are humbled by this outpouring of support," Jorgensen said in a statement. "The message is clear, the people have spoken. Now the real work begins."

Incumbent Elton Gallegly won the Republican nomination in a landslide with 77 percent of the vote. Challenger Michael Tenenbaum received 23 percent.

Gallegly, a former Simi Valley mayor, will seek his 12th term in office in the November general election.

"Whenever you have a victory it's a pleasant situation, particularly when its almost a four-to-one margin," Gallegly said. "That's about as gratifying a statement as you can get."

Gallegly, who was critical of his opponent's tactics, called the campaign "interesting."

"I know this is a time you're supposed to be magnanimous, but it's difficult when you've had thousands of dollars of signs torn down and blatant misrepresentations of your records," Gallegly said. "What it shows to me is that sometimes folks don't give the people electing you credit for the intelligence they have. They have a lot of confidence in the job we're doing and we're going to do everything we can to live up to that confidence."

Almost 93,000, or 24 percent of Ventura County's registered voters cast a ballot in the primary. About half voted absentee.

There were 26,545 votes cast in the Democratic election and 37,488 votes in the Republican race.