A former leader of the Assembly GOP caucus who stirred controversy by accepting a multibillion-dollar tax hike as part of a 2009 budget deal apparently has lost his bid to become state insurance commissioner.
Brian Fitzgerald, who ran a low-key campaign, outpaced Villines, 50.4 percent to 49.6 percent, with all precincts counted Wednesday morning but some provisional and mail-in ballots remaining in the GOP primary for insurance commissioner.
The winner will square off against Democratic nominee Dave Jones, a Sacramento assemblyman who easily outpaced his legislative colleague, Hector De La Torre, 61.2 percent to 38.8 percent.
Villines, who is termed out of the Assembly this year, served as Republican leader of the lower house from 2006 to 2009. He is termed out of the Assembly this year.
Fitzgerald is a state insurance department attorney who spent less than $5,000 on his campaign, a relative drop in the bucket to Villines' $1.1 million war chest.
Villines had ruffled feathers within the GOP, however, by accepting a temporary tax hike as part of a wide-ranging deal to end the state's budget impasse in February 2009. He subsequently resigned after conservatives reacted angrily to the budget pact.
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