GOP Dissident Says He’ll Wage Write-In Race

Maverick GOP Assemblyman Brian Setencich, narrowly defeated by a March primary opponent backed by major Republican contributors, announced Wednesday that he will wage a write-in campaign this fall to keep his seat.

The party dissident from Fresno, who briefly served last year as Assembly speaker, said “people were fooled” into voting for his opponent, political unknown Robert Prenter Jr.

In running as a write-in candidate, Setencich has set up a rematch with Prenter in November.

Prenter beat Setencich in the Republican primary by a few hundred votes after the GOP mounted a last-minute campaign blitz calling Setencich a “traitor” who “attacked Christian values.”

An estimated $200,000 poured into Prenter’s campaign to influence fewer than 50,000 Republican voters. The contributions included $145,000 from the deep-pockets conservative group California Independent Business Political Action Committee.

Prenter is a nephew of one of the committee’s founding members, Christian radio network owner Edward Atsinger.

Setencich said he “can’t stand by while my opponent lies, thinking his rich uncle’s Orange County political action committee can buy the voters” of the Central Valley district.

He said “the poll numbers look good” for a November victory over Prenter in their second head-to-head fight.

He noted that turnout in the March primary was low. It is expected to be higher in November, which Setencich says is to his advantage.

Additionally, with no candidate of their own in the race, some Democrats are expected to swing to Setencich, who continues to draw praise from Assembly Democrats.

To win, Setencich said, “we will have to wage a very labor-intensive grass-roots campaign, explaining to people how and where to write in my name.”

He said hundreds of people have volunteered to help.

Setencich, the only incumbent to lose in last March’s primaries, was slow to declare his candidacy, saying earlier that he was unsure of his prospects or whether he should run a populist campaign attached to a no-party label.