By STEVEN LUO
Beat Political Director

Voters in the 10th Congressional District have elected Democratic state Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi to the House of Representatives.

With 100% of precincts reporting, Garamendi holds 53% of the vote, with Republican opponent David Harmer trailing with 43% in totals reported by the secretary of state’s office.

Three other candidates each polled less than 2%: Jeremy Cloward of the Green Party, Jerome “Jerry” Denham of the American Independent Party, and Mary C. McIlroy of the Peace and Freedom Party.

The Garamendi victory in the district was expected, given that Democrats hold an 18-point voter registration advantage in the district and President Obama took 65% of the vote in 2008.

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Indeed, Harmer’s loss by slightly more than 10 points might signify some swing against Democrats in a heavily Democratic district.

Garamendi thanked supporters at an election night event, while Harmer said that he was unlikely to run for office again, saying he was not a career politician.

The election brings to a close a race that mostly failed to capture the attention of voters.

Garamendi, who in addition to his inbuilt advantage as a Democrat in a heavily Democratic district had a significant name recognition advantage over the other candidates in the race, stressed his experience and promised to help advance Democratic initiatives in Congress.

Garamendi survived a tough primary race against two other prominent politicians from the district, who leveled accusations of “carpetbagging” against him. (Garamendi’s home lies just outside the district, and it is not required that a House representative live in the district he represents.)

Harmer, an attorney and the son of a former lieutenant governor, ran on a platform of reducing the deficit, choosing to avoid social issues which he said weren’t on the minds of voters. He consolidated local Republican backing behind him during the primary race, and managed to raise enough money to stay with Garamendi financially.

Garamendi will have to resign his lieutenant governor’s post in order to take up his new House seat. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will then name a replacement, who is likely to be a “caretaker” with no ambitions of running for office in 2010.

The 10th Congressional District, which covers parts of Contra Costa, Solano, Alameda, and Sacramento counties, was the seat of former representative Ellen Tauscher, a Democrat who left Congress to take a post in the State Department.

An open primary was held in the district September 1, in which no candidate drew more than 50%. The top vote-getter in each party advanced to Tuesday’s election.

E-mail Steven Luo at californiabeat@gmail.com. Join the California Beat on Facebook, and get breaking news headlines, story alerts and previews when you follow us on Twitter.