"I certainly hope that the (R)s aren't so abundant that a dem pulls in front.
OMG... that really could happen."
In a special election in California, candidates of all parties run together on the same ballot, and if no one gets over 50% of the total vote then there is a run-off a mointh or so later. The candidates in the run-off will be the top vote-getters of each party. Thus, even if a Democrat got more votes in the first round than the leading Republican, the run-off would only have one Republican, one Democrat, one Green, one Libertarian, etc., and the Republican will almost certainly win. The only real risk we have is of a RINO being the top Republican vote-getter in the first round, which would cost us a conservative representative from a conservative district and could even result in the Democrat winning the low-turnout run-off (if the RINO can't motivate conservatives to go out and vote).