Voters head to the polls Tuesday to fill two legislative vacancies

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Voters in the 43rd Assembly District will decide who will replace Paul Krekorian in the Assembly. If nobody receives 50% in Tuesday’s election, the top vote-getter in each party will advance to a June runoff.

The race in this Glendale-Silver Lake-area seat has been a hard-fought affair on the Democratic side. Glendale school board member Nayiri Nahabedian and attorney and former congressional aide Mike Gatto have traded barbs and complaints with the state’s election watchdog throughout the campaign.
Gatto has attacked Nahabedian’s record on the school board, while Nahabedian supporters have accused Gatto of clandestinely recruiting and supporting another candidate, Democrat Chahe Keuroghelian, to split the Armenian American vote.

In Riverside County, voters will select a replacement for former state Sen. John Benoit (R-Riverside), who was appointed to the Riverside County Board of Supervisors last year. Assemblyman Bill Emmerson (R-Redlands) and former Republican Assemblyman Russ Bogh are the two front-runners in the race.

As with the Assembly race, the top vote-getters in each party will advance to a June runoff if nobody receives 50% percent of the vote Tuesday.

--Anthony York in Sacramento