Morris to be Herger's opponent

Jeff Morris With all votes finally counted, it appears that Trinity County Supervisor Jeff Morris of Weaverville has won the Democratic nomination for California's 2nd Congressional District and will face longtime Republican Congressman Wally Herger in the general election.

Morris's tight race with Arjinderpal "A.J." Sekhon of Yuba City made this contest a cliffhanger as the difference between the two just after the June 3 primary was considerably smaller than the number of votes that remained to be counted. These included some of the vote-bymail ballots and other ballots that required additional checking.

All the counties in the 2nd District have now submitted their final tallies, and Morris's lead over Sekhon has widened from the 245 votes posted on Election Day to 410 votes. Final results posted by the counties indicate that Morris received 14,750 votes, followed by Sekhon with 14,340 votes and John Jacobson of Weed with 13,470 votes. Certification by the state is to be done by this Saturday.

The 2nd District includes Siskiyou, Trinity, Shasta, Tehama, Yuba, Glenn, Colusa, Sutter, and parts of Butte and Yolo counties. The counties went for different candidates, with Morris garnering the most votes in Shasta, Trinity and Butte counties, and Sekhon getting the most votes in his home county of Sutter, plus Tehama, Glenn and Colusa counties. Jacobson came out on top in his home county of Siskiyou and in Yuba.

Morris said his large lead in Trinity County, 1,319 votes to runner-up Sekhon's 198 votes, really made a difference.

In preparing for the Nov. 4 election against Herger, Morris said, "We're really doing fundraising and planning. Right now that's our main focus. Just making sure we've got our organization set up."

"It's great that we had a contested primary because we're much better prepared," he added.

Morris said he is getting some support from Republicans as well as Democrats.

"I think people are tired with the way things have been going," Morris said, adding that Herger's 22 years in office have given him ample opportunity to prove himself, and many people think he hasn't done that.

Morris said issues that voters should consider include "people are struggling to pay their mortgage, buy health insurance, and scraping together change to go to the grocery store."