Dymally plans bid for state Senate

Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally (D-Compton) will announce today that he plans to run to replace state Sen. Edward Vincent (D-Inglewood), who terms out in two years.

Dymally, who turned 80 this year, has a long history in California politics.

He first served in the Assembly from 1962 to 1966, and became the first black state senator in 1966, the first and only black lieutenant governor and a six-term congressman.

When he returned to the Assembly in 2002 after 10 years of retirement, Dymally said he did so because he couldn’t find anyone more suitable for the job.

Now, he says, he wants to return to the state Senate “to continue the work I started.”

Dymally is the chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus and the Assembly Health Committee.

For months, it has been rumored that Dymally was considering a run for the state Senate but he said he wanted to wait until after the election before making a formal announcement.

“People have been asking me and asking me, ‘Are you going to run? Are you going to run?’ ” he said. “You know, I can’t walk and chew gum at the same time. But I’ve finished chewing gum and now I’m walking across the street.”

Also expected to run for the seat in the 25th Senate District are former Assemblymen Carl Washington, Jerome Horton and Rod Wright and Gardena City Councilman Steve Bradford. The district stretches from Inglewood and Los Angeles to Compton, Long Beach and the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

john.mitchell@latimes.com