State Senate seat, the Associated Press reported: "Assemblyman Joel Anderson, R-La Mesa, was the early leader to succeed Senate Minority Leader Dennis Hollingsworth". The Press-Enterprise noted, "Assemblyman Joel Anderson, R-Alpine, was on pace to top a four-person field in the GOP primary for the 36th Senate District". The North County Times reported that Anderson led the candidates in the Republican primary, with his closest opponent receiving 24 percent of the vote. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that Anderson had a "strong lead over his Republican competitors in the East County 36th State Senate District primary race". According to the paper, with 15 percent of votes counted, Anderson received 45 percent of the votes; other candidates in the Republican primary received 25, 21, and 10 percent. East County Magazine, and The San Diego Union-Tribune declared Anderson the winner of the Republican primary in the State Senate election. In an error compared to "Dewey Defeats Truman", the publication Valley News of Riverside County, California, erroneously reported that Anderson had lost the primary. The publisher of Valley News had only obtained the results from Riverside, and not the entire district. The Valley News later posted a new article with the correct results, and deleted the prior incorrect reporting without posting a correction. The State Senate district is considered a "Republican stronghold"; the Democratic candidate in the general election was Paul Clay, who ran uncontested in the primary. Anderson won the general election by a wide margin. During his term in the Senate, he has opposed any legislation controlling the sale of guns or ammunition. He opposed increased aid to pregnant teens, voted to prevent registered nurses from dispensing contraceptives, and wanted to prevent the inclusion of maternity services in health insurance plans sold in the state. He voted against the minimum wage increase more than once, he opposed requiring overtime pay for agricultural workers, opposes health warning labels on sugary drinks, opposed the sale of medical marijuana, opposed notifying property owners prior to the start of hydraulic fracking on their leased lands, voted not to ban the carcinogen BPA in baby products, voted against requiring mental health coverage by health insurers doing business in the state, voted against the solar power energy credit, voted to keep gender based health insurance pricing so that women would have to pay more for health insurance, and voted to allow the resale of recalled products. He also