So the game of political dominoes begins.  With Congressional candidate Laura Richardson now considered the clear front-runner in the August special election run-off, the next question is who will run for the 55th Assembly seat that will be vacated if Richardson wins the August race?
 
Richardson may also choose to resign from the Assembly to focus solely on the Congressional race which would intensify this race immediately.
 
The Assembly seat, which covers portions of Long Beach, Lakewood, Carson and Wilmington will be hotly contested.  Possible candidates include- Carson Mayor Jim Dear, Carson Councilmember Mike Gipson and Warren Furutani, who ran against Richardson in the last election and lost.
 
One thing is missing- Where is the Long Beach candidate?  Currently, we have two Long Beach legislators in the Assembly- Richardson and Betty Karnette.  With Richardson possibly leaving the Assembly, that will leave us with only one likely Long Beach Assemblymember.
 
That means lost clout in Sacramento and bad news for us.  We need to rally behind a Long Beach candidate to keep the seat….let’s hope someone that can win decides to run.
 
Click here for the PT story on the 55th Assembly race.