2014 election wrap up: Physician-friendly candidates win majority of their races November 17, 2014 General CALPAC 0 On Election Day, the California Medical Association (CMA) made history by resoundingly defeating the trial attorneys' attempt to overturn California's Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA) protections. This was one of the most contentious and high-stakes ballot fights in California history. The voters sent a clear message: Californians simply don’t want to increase health care costs and reduce health access so trial attorneys can file more lawsuits. But the Election Night celebration was not limited to Prop. 46: CMA’s priority candidates also performed exceedingly well. CMA participated in "independent expenditure" campaigns for six candidates. Sacramento Pediatrician and Assemblyman Richard Pan, M.D., was at the top of the list. Dr. Pan faced off against fellow democrat Roger Dickinson in California Senate District 6 in one of the most hotly-contested races of the election. Conventional wisdom gave Dr. Pan very little chance to defeat Dickinson, who has spent more than 30 years as a career politician. However, CMA built a coalition of labor and business allies to put together a full-fledged campaign that helped overcome a double-digit deficit in the primary to place Dr. Pan in the State Senate. In another tight race, two liberal Democrats, David Chiu and David Campos, squared off for San Francisco's Assembly District 17. The candidates agreed on many issues, but David Chiu believes in and publicly advocates for the protection of MICRA. Chiu’s advocacy on the matter became a critical point of contention in the campaign, transforming this race into a proxy race for Proposition 46. Once again, the advocate for protecting access to care prevailed, CMA-endorsed David Chiu will be heading to Sacramento. CMA emerged from the election with a perfect score on the six independent expenditure campaigns for our endorsed candidates. In total, the 15 CMA-endorsed candidates for state Senate all won their election. In the state Assembly, 65 out of our 70 endorsed candidates triumphed. (Please note there are a few races that are too close to call.) Click here to see the full roster of candidates CMA supported and the results of their races. Comments are closed.
