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SACRAMENTO (AP) ― Democrats won three seats held by Republicans and were leading in a tight race for a fourth Wednesday as the partisan makeup of the California Legislature shifted slightly to the left.

The party, however, was denied the two-thirds majority needed to pass state budgets and tax increases without Republican help as a Republican captured a Democratic seat in the state Assembly, and the GOP held off a well-funded challenge in another swing district.

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, said Democrats would try to put an initiative on the ballot, possibly in a special election next year, that would let the Legislature pass budgets by simple majorities.

"It's my hope that we will take the excitement and inspiration from this (election) and actually change the two-third vote so it's not an issue," she said in an interview.

California is one of a handful of states that require more than simple majorities to pass budgets. That requirement is a key factor in the almost annual partisan deadlocks that hold up passage of the state's spending blueprint.

In the most expensive and tightest race, former Assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, clung to a 108-vote lead in her battle with another former Assembly member, Republican Tony Strickland. They were seeking the state Senate seat held by termed-out Republican Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks.

More than $10 million was spent by the two candidates and various interest groups in that fight.

Two Assembly campaigns were also too close to call.

In one of those races, Republican Jack Sieglock, a former San Joaquin County supervisor, led Lodi attorney Alyson Huber by a fraction of a percentage point. They were trying to succeed another term limits victim, Assemblyman Alan Nakanishi, R-Stockton.

In the other, Strickland's wife, Assemblywoman Audra Strickland, R-Thousand Oaks, had a 2.8-point lead over Democrat Ferial Masry, a San Fernando Valley high school teacher who was facing Strickland for the third time.

The outcomes in those races hung on thousands of uncounted absentee and provisional ballots that could take days or even weeks to count.

In the East Bay, Democrat Joan Buchanan, a San Ramon school board member took nearly 53 percent of the vote in defeating Republican Abram Wilson, the mayor of San Ramon, for the Assembly seat now held Republican Guy Houston of Pleasanton.

Houston will also be termed out at the end of the month.

Buchanan's victory gave Democrats the last legislative seat held by a Republican in the San Francisco Bay Area.

In Southern California, Democrat Marty Block, the president of the San Diego Community College board, beat Republican John McCann, a Chula Vista city councilman, for the Assembly seat being given up by Assemblywoman Shirley Horton, R-San Diego, who is also termed out this year.

Block got 55 percent of the vote in winning a district that was originally intended to be held by Democrats.

And Democrat Manuel Perez, a Coachella Valley school board member, took just over 52 percent of the vote to capture another district that was supposed to be a Democratic stronghold when it was drawn in 2001. He beat former Palm Springs Police Chief Gary Jeandron for the seat now filled by Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, R-Cathedral City, another term limits victim.

Assemblywoman Lois Wolk, D-Davis, easily defeated Assemblyman Greg Aghazarian, R-Stockton, to take the only other Senate seat seriously contested by both parties. The incumbent in that Stockton-Sacramento area district, Democrat Mike Machado, D-Linden, is also termed out.

But Republican Danny Gilmore, a retired Highway Patrol officer, edged Democrat Fran Florez, a Shafter city councilwoman, for the only Democratic Assembly district in any real danger of changing parties. Gilmore got just over 51 percent of the vote.

The Democrat who now holds the seat, termed-out Assemblywoman Nicole Parra, D-Hanford, endorsed Gilmore, her GOP opponent in 2006. Florez is the mother of Parra's bitter rival, state Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter.

In another hotly contested race, Ceres school board member Bill Berryhill, the brother of Assemblyman Tom Berryhill, R-Modesto, held off Democrat John Eisenhut, a Turlock almond grower.

Assemblyman Minority Leader Mike Villines, R-Clovis, said Republicans did well to deny Democrats a two-thirds majority in the Assembly, despite heavy Democratic spending in six districts now controlled by the GOP.

"This means Republicans will still be empowered to protect Californians from higher taxes and reckless spending," he said in a statement.

Bass called the Democratic gains a victory, even though they didn't get a two-thirds majority in either house. That was never likely in the Senate, but Democrats had an outside chance of winning that many Assembly seats.

"I think if we pick up any seats at all it's a victory," Bass said. "Obviously we would have loved to get to two-thirds, but we never believed that would be possible."

Democrats now hold 48 of the Assembly's 80 seats and 25 of the Senate's 40 seats. They needed to get to 54 seats in the Assembly and 27 in the Senate to be able to put together two-thirds majorities without Republican help.

Victories by Buchanan, Block and Perez and the loss by Florez give Democrats at least 50 Assembly seats. Comebacks by Huber and
Masry would push that total to 52, the most seats Democrats have
had in the Assembly in 30 years.

A Jackson victory would push the Democratic majority in the Senate to 26. That would give them the most seats they've had in that house since 2002.

The nine hottest races attracted more than $45.7 million. That included $10.2 million in independent expenditures by groups representing employers, teachers, attorneys, nurses and others.

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