Shasta County ballot delays stand out as Wiener and Hinojosa advance

While 57 of California's 58 counties reported smooth election night operations, rural Shasta County experienced overflowing drop boxes and computer configuration failures that left it as the only county in the state still counting in-person ballots on Wednesday morning, even as State Sen. Scott Wiener built a commanding lead in San Francisco's 11th Congressional District and Texas Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa began assembling a bipartisan administration in Austin.

Shasta County Registrar Clint Curtis Faces Ballot Delays Ahead of January Transition

In Shasta County, located two and a half hours north of Sacramento, journalists including CalMatters partner Shasta Scout documented overflowing ballot drop boxes, staffing shortages, ballots placed in incorrect containers, computer setup errors, and relocated polling place signs on Tuesday night, as reported by The Almanac. Whereas most California counties released initial returns shortly after polls closed at 8 p.m., Shasta County posted no results until around 10 p.m. and remained the sole county among 58 yet to finish counting in-person ballots by Wednesday morning.

Appointed by the Shasta County Board of Supervisors in 2025, Registrar Clint Curtis had previously reduced the county's ballot drop boxes from 13 to 4 and left the election office himself on Tuesday night to collect ballots from boxes. In September, FBI agents used bolt cutters to enter a locked storage room of older ballots after Curtis claimed he lost the key. Curtis lost the June primary to former Shasta County election official Joanna Francescut, who will assume office in January.

Fundraising and Policy Contrasts Shape Scott Wiener's Lead in District 11

In San Francisco, State Sen. Scott Wiener established a 55.5% to 44.5% lead over District 1 Supervisor Connie Chan in the race to succeed retiring U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi after her nearly 40 years representing California's 11th Congressional District, according to the San Francisco Examiner. In the June primary, Wiener finished first with 40.71% ahead of Chan's 29.7% and former Stripe engineer Saikat Chakrabarti's 17.87% after Chakrabarti contributed nearly $10 million to his own bid.

Representing District 8 before joining the Senate in 2016, Wiener authored more than 100 state laws, had 9 bills signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2026, placed a $7.5 billion science research bond on the March 2028 ballot, and co-authored Senate Bill 63 authorizing regional transit measure Proposition RTM, which led 77.9% to 22.1% while statewide Proposition 40 — a 5% tax on billionaire non-real-estate assets opposed by Wiener and backed by Chan — trailed 55.6% to 44.4%. As of Oct. 14, Wiener had raised $5.8 million to Chan's $2.4 million, while independent expenditure committees spent $11.6 million supporting Wiener — including $3.8 million from Abundant Future and $3.5 million from GrowUSA — compared with $3.1 million backing Chan, including $1 million each from SF For All and SF Solidarity PAC.

Gina Hinojosa Pledges Bipartisan Administration as Texas' First Latina Governor

In Austin, Texas, 52-year-old state Rep. Gina Hinojosa — first elected to the Austin school board in 2012 and the Texas House in 2016 — pledged Thursday to build a bipartisan administration before taking office in January after defeating three-term Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to become Texas' first Latina governor and first Democratic governor since 1990 alongside U.S. Senate winner James Talarico, as reported by KCBS Radio. Focusing on public education, data center costs, and affordability alongside state Rep. Christina Morales, Hinojosa appointed a former rural Republican lawmaker who opposed private school vouchers to her transition team as Democrats flipped the Texas House while Republicans retained the state Senate.