Sometime in the next two weeks, Governor Schwarzenegger will call for a special election for the 37th Congressional seat held formerly by Juanita Millender-McDonald. The list of potential candidates is growing, but I am most intrigued by all the talk about our Mayor Bob Foster running for the seat.
I can now count over a dozen conversations that I have had with political insiders and members of the business community over this speculation.
Would Mayor Foster win? I say yes.
Here’s the deal: He’s only been Mayor for 1 year, but would be an extremely effective and strong candidate. He can certainly raise the money and could potentially clear the field of Democratic challengers. His toughest competition would come from State Senator Jenny Oropeza, who was also just recently elected to her seat. However, Mayor Foster just ran a successful Mayoral campaign and is currently campaigning for Charter Amendment changes – in both cases he showed us that he can raise money. He is everywhere, and the seat will be dominated by a Long Beach candidate.
Most do not expect any decision from Foster until after Tuesday’s vote on his Charter Amendment changes. He’s got a lot of political and financial capital (see the post below) invested next Tuesday.
It will be an interesting next few weeks.