2nd District Councilmember Suja Lowenthal announced Friday afternoon that she is no longer running for mayor so that she may instead run for the State Assembly.

“I have decided to shift my focus from running for Mayor of Long Beach and announce my candidacy for State Assembly,” Lowenthal wrote on her campaign’s Facebook page. “…I have concluded that Long Beach would be best served if my City Council colleague Robert Garcia was elected Mayor and I was successful in representing our community in the State Assembly.”

She did not specify which assembly district she would be running, but her current council district sits in the 70th Assembly District, which is represented by her former mother-in-law, Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal.

Suja Lowenthal announced her candidacy for mayor on July 23, the same week that Mayor Bob Foster announced he would not be running as a write-in. At the time, she was the sixth person to join the race and since then, three more people have announced their bids for the same position, including Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal.  

“The issues facing Long Beach will need a dynamic one-two punch of new leadership,” Suja Lowenthal said of her decision. “And while I have not discussed this with Councilman Garcia I hope he will accept my endorsement of his candidacy for Mayor. I would ask that he not endorse my candidacy for Assembly because it could call into question the integrity behind the decision I have made.”

On Friday, the “Suja Lowenthal for Mayor” Facebook page was renamed “Suja Lowenthal For Assembly,” however her website, sujalowenthal.org, remained dedicated to her former mayoral campaign.

 

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