Former state Sen. Sharon Runner defeated a last-minute challenge from six write-in candidates Tuesday to win the 21st Senate District seat that was vacated when its previous occupant, Steve Knight, was elected to the House of Representatives in November.

Runner, the only candidate whose name appeared on the ballot, received 24,517 votes, according to the California Secretary of State’s office. A vast majority of those were cast by mail prior to Election Day.

Combined, Runner’s six write-in challengers received a maximum of 1,469 votes, according to the registrars for Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties – 667 in L.A. County and 802 in San Bernardino.

Those ballots were identified by the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder’s office as “ballots that contain potential write-in votes.” They may also contain errors such as write-in votes for persons other than the qualified write-in candidates.

According to the state, the final tallies are due from the counties on March 27, 2015.

The 21st Senate District includes about half of the Santa Clarita Valley and the Antelope, Victor and Apple valleys. Runner is a Republican.

About Sharon Runner

Sharon Runner was a driving force behind the passage of Proposition 83 in 2006, the California version of Jessica’s Law. It increased the penalties for sex offenders and reclassified certain crimes as sexual offenses.

The last time Sharon Runner was elected to the Senate, it was to complete the unexpired term of another person who had been elected to higher office – her husband, George Runner, who was elected to the state Board of Equalization.

Two years later, in 2012, Sharon Runner opted not to seek a full Senate term after learning she would need a double lung transplant. She had been diagnosed with limited scleroderma, an autoimmune disease that attacks the body’s healthy tissue and organs.

She had the transplant in early 2012.

“We are thrilled with Sharon’s rapid progress,” her doctor, David Ross, Medical Director of the Lung and Heart-Lung Transplant Program at UCLA, said at the time. “Her new lungs will enable her to resume normal activities and responsibilities soon.”

Runner said her recovery is complete and she’s ready to return to Sacramento to “combat the job-killing over-regulation, over-taxation and the dangerous situation created by early release of felons by Prop. 47 and realignment.”