Amidst voting complications in San Francisco, an unexpected early lead in the polls by Republican challenger Bill Simon and a strong Republican showing in races across the nation, Democrat Gray Davis was narrowly re-elected as California’s governor yesterday night.

Meanwhile, Democrat Cruz Bustamante defeated Republican opponent Bruce McPherson to retain the lieutenant governorship.

Many felt Davis’ margin of victory was relatively slim, particularly given his incumbent status in a traditionally Democratic-leaning state.

Poll results reported Davis at 47 percent, Simon at 43 percent and Green Party candidate Peter Camejo at 5 percent with 70 percent of precincts having reported as of 12 a.m. today. The lieutenant governor results listed Bustamante at 49 percent and McPherson at 42 percent.

Simon underscored the close nature of the gubernatorial election in his resignation speech.

“I am very proud of the race that we have run,” Simon said. “The margin looks very very tight — but it doesn’t look like the numbers are going to be there for us this time.”

Davis addressed campaign volunteers and supporters in Los Angeles shortly after Simon offered his resignation.

“You are the heroes of tonight’s election, and I will always be grateful to you,” Davis said.

Democrats on campus said they were pleased with the election results.

“I think that [Davis] does have inadequacies, but there are a lot of positive things about him that people do not necessarily see,” Heather Hargreaves, a senior and president of the Stanford Democrats. “I also think having a Democratic governor helps the Democratic legislature.”

Josh Benson, a senior and editor-in-chief of the Stanford Progressive, explained that “it is good to have a Democrat in charge of state government — I would only hope it would be a Democrat more to my political liking— but he is much better than the political alternative.”

Despite Simon’s defeat, Republican students said they were also satisfied with the results.

“We were very impressed by Simon’s showing,” said Joe Fairbanks, a sophomore and president of the Stanford College Republicans. “None of us realistically expected him to win; we expected Davis’ margin of victory to be far bigger than it was. It goes to show that people don’t trust Davis.”

Will Hudson, a sophomore and the Stanford College Republicans’ chief financial officer, concurred with Fairbanks’ views.

“The message is pretty strong that — regardless of the fact that Simon will probably not be the next governor — there are a significant number of voters who do not like Davis and do not like what he has done to the state,” Hudson said. “Davis has been plagued with corruption and economic downturn. I think [voters] are looking for another answer because they haven’t gotten any from the current administration.”

Adam Edwards, a graduate student in applied physics and a Green Party member, felt Camejo ran a successful campaign.

“He was good at his speeches,” Edwards said. “I was hoping for a higher percentage of votes for the Green Party. [5 percent] is not bad, but it could be better.”

Tyler Snortum-Phelps, Camejo’s campaign manager, explained that the election results will be important for the future of the Green Party.

“We are delighted,” Snortum-Phelps said. “The media will focus on the overall numbers, but they are missing the tremendous gains that we made in this campaign . . . The Green Party has grown by leaps and bounds.

“We are really on the map now; it makes us the definite third party force in California.”

Though Davis managed to win in the end, the first precinct reports showed Simon ahead of Davis by 2 percent. For two hours after California polling booths closed, Simon unexpectedly continued to maintain his initial numerical lead.

Alexander Kendall, a junior and the Stanford Democrats’ communications director, said he did not think anything of Simon’s early lead.

“I actually was not very worried,” Kendall said. “I was talking to a friend of mine at the Davis headquarters — those early returns are central valley votes, which is the bastion of conservative votes. [Davis was] doing very well by only trailing by a point [at that time].”

During the elections process yesterday, news outlets reported that thousands of San Francisco residents were temporarily not able to vote because local precinct locations ran out of paper ballots.

“It is absurd that we cannot have enough ballots for everyone,” Kendall said. “It is an insult to our democracy.”

Edwards agreed with Kendall’s sentiments regarding the ballot shortages.

“I am sure something like that just affects pretty much [all candidates] equally, but I think the whole voting system is pretty absurd,” Edwards said. “It is made to be complicated when it could be made so much simpler.”

While Democrats said they were excited by Davis’ gubernatorial victory, some of them were more concerned with the nationwide Democratic seat losses in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.

“I’d say the mood is pretty somber here,” Kendall said. “The Republicans controlling every branch of government is not something we would like to see.”