Vote for Laura Richardson 37th Congressional District ~ California

Laura Richardson Will Be Elected to Congress on August 21: What This Means for California

By Frank D. Russo

The election returns are in for the special election held yesterday to fill the 37th Congressional District seat vacant because of the death of Juanita Millender-McDonald due to cancer. Receiving 37.8% of the vote, Democrat Assemblymember Laura Richardson (pictured at right) will be the winner on August 21, 2007-- barring the sun not coming up between now and then-- in a runoff election against the top Republican vote getter who received 7.6% of the vote and the Green Party and Libertarian candidates who received even a smaller proportion of the votes.

Under California law for special elections to Congress and other partisan offices, if no candidate receives an outright majority, the top vote getters from each party in the special election primary race face of in the special election general contest. Richardson beat out Democratic State Senator Jenny Oropeza who received 31.3% of the vote in this heavily Democratic district. With 18 candidates on the ballot, getting that majority now was difficult. Turnout was 11.2% despite the infusion of independent expenditures and a tug of war between tribal casino interests organized labor and between some Latinos and Blacks as to this seat.

Richardson, who is the Assistant Speaker pro Tem of the Assembly, despite being elected to that body just last November, will continue to serve in the Assembly. At age 45, even with demographic shifts in the district she will likely remain in the Congressional seat for many years. She has served as a Long Beach City Council member for 6 years before her election to the Assembly and was the Southern California Director for then Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante for 5 of those years.

Assuming she takes her seat in the Congress immediately, as would be expected, there will be a vacancy in the Assembly for the last three weeks of the state legislative session when many of the mega bills are up for consideration and the big deals are struck. Democrats would be one down from their 48 to 32 majority in the 80 member Assembly.

Among the interesting questions is how she will vote on the Tribal Gaming Compacts that may come up for a vote on the Assembly Floor as early as this week. Interesting because the tribes made over $400,000 in an independent expenditure campaign on behalf of her rival Senator Oropeza. Labor was a strong backer of Richardson and are opposed to the compacts. The compacts were approved in April by the State Senate, with Oropeza in support of them. If approved, they will usher in the largest expansion of slot machines in United States history.

Interesting questions are also being raised about the effectiveness of campaign contributions and independent expenditures by the tribes who spent more money in their effort on Oropeza's behalf than she had raised herself.

Richardson will remain in the Assembly for another two months and Oropeza will continue to serve in the State Senate. Oropeza has wished her well.

There will be a special election for the 55th Assembly District seat, a Democratic stronghold, after the end of this year's regular session of the legislature and before the legislature reconvenes and the second year of the 2007-08 term begins in January.