Umberg Hopes to Reclaim Seat in Assembly

Former Orange County Assemblyman Tom Umberg will ask voters next year to again send him to Sacramento.

Umberg said Monday that he will run for the 69th Assembly District, the same district he represented from 1990 to 1994. He left the seat in 1994 to seek the Democratic nomination for state insurance commissioner, which voters gave to eventual winner John Garamendi.

The 69th District covers central Orange County, including Santa Ana and parts of Garden Grove and Anaheim.

Because of voter-approved term limits, Umberg can serve only one more two-year term in the Assembly. Additionally, he can serve two four-year terms in the state Senate.

It is the state Senate that beckons Umberg as much as another shot in the Assembly, he said. “If voters think I’m doing a good job, I hope they’ll want to renew my contract,” he said.

Umberg, 48, joins announced Democratic candidates Claudia Alvarez, a Santa Ana councilwoman and deputy district attorney, and Armando de la Libertad. Republicans Reuben Ross, a businessman who lost in 2002 to Assemblyman Lou Correa, and Otto Bade, who owns a Santa Ana restaurant, also have announced intentions to run.