Dianne Feinstein faced an incumbent in the 1992 special election and absolutely clobbered him:
Yet on the same ticket in the same year, Barbara Boxer narrowly won a squeaker:
Why were the two results so different?
Boxer was seen as more liberal and had many bounced checks at the House Bank, which was used against her.
And didn't Herschensohn (her opponent) also have some sort of scandal him self?
I also think that the "incumbent" appointed to Wilson's seat, Seymour, should have ran for the Boxer seat instead (it was for a 6-year term and not a 2-year partial term, and Boxer was weaker than Feinstein). Not saying he would have won, but it would have been smart.
