California: Schwarzenegger Steps Down as Governor, Prop 19 Defeated

Democrat Jerry Brown appears to have won his bid to return as California governor and will succeed Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, reports The Australian. 

Brown, who was governor from 1975-83, beat his Republican opponent Meg Whitman, the billionaire former chief executive of eBay, to take the state by a margin of 49 per cent to 46, CNN said, citing exit polls.

Whitman had reportedly spent over $US140 million of her own fortune in a bid to take the governorship of the most populous state in the US.

Brown’s victory came on a good night for the Democrats in California, where Senator Barbara Boxer held onto her Senate seat for President Barack Obama’s party in mid-term elections.

Meanwhile Californians rejected a proposal to make their famously laid-back US state the world’s first to legalize all marijuana consumption, cultivation and trade.

The proposals in so-called Proposition 19 — one of a series of referendums held at the same time as crucial mid-term polls — were rejected by 57 per cent against 43 per cent in favour, said CNN, while Fox News also forecast a No vote.

The Los Angeles Times also projected that the proposal would be defeated, based on exit polls.

Former champion bodybuilder and movie star Schwarzenegger will have served for a little over seven years when he finally steps down in January.

While he impressed many by his transformation into a liberal Republican and green champion who won reelection in 2006, his poll ratings have slid of late, in line with California’s dire economic fortunes.