Field set in race for vacant Assembly seat
SACRAMENTO -- The field was set Monday for an election to fill the state Assembly seat vacated when Laura Richardson was elected to Congress, with the Democratic primary featuring two candidates with close ties to organized labor and friends in high places.
The special primary election Dec. 11 for the south Los Angeles County 55th Assembly District seat is a match between Carson City Councilman Mike Gipson and Los Angeles Community College board member Warren Furutani.
Gipson is endorsed by Richardson and a host of state and local elected officials, while Furutani, who is on leave from a job as senior consultant to Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, has the backing of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a potent force in a predominantly Latino district.
Gipson, 41, works as an area organizer for United Teachers Los Angeles, but Furutani, 60, has won the backing of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and several local unions.
“This race has split labor,” said Jaime Regalado, executive director of the Edmund G. “Pat” Brown Institute of Public Affairs at Cal State L.A. “It’s nip and tuck, too close to call.”
Furutani, a resident of the Harbor Gateway area, has jumped out to a big fundraising lead, bringing in $287,400 while Gipson has raised $75,300.
A third Democrat on the ballot, author/management consultant Mervin Evans, has not reported raising any money and has run unsuccessfully for several other political offices.
The winner of the Democratic primary will face a runoff Feb. 5 with American Independent candidate Charlotte Sadiyah Gibson, a nurse from Long Beach, and Libertarian candidate Herb Peters, a retired aerospace engineer from Carson.
Democrats make up 53% of the voters, while Republicans represent 25% in the district, which includes the Wilmington, Harbor City and Harbor Gateway sections of Los Angeles, Carson, much of the inland portion of Long Beach and most of Lakewood.
Furutani, in his third term on the Los Angeles Community College Board of Trustees, previously served two terms on the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education.
He lost to Richardson last year in an election for the Assembly seat, but says he has broader experience than Gipson.
Furutani said Gipson “is new to being an elected official. I have worked in Sacramento. I know where the bathrooms are. I will hit the ground running.”
Furutani said his priorities include seeking quality and affordable healthcare, improving public schools, reducing crime, making college more affordable and curbing traffic congestion and pollution.
A former police officer in Maywood, Gipson was elected to the City Council in March 2005.
Besides Richardson, supporters include Democratic state Sens. Gloria Romero, Alex Padilla and Mark Ridley-Thomas, for whom he previously worked as a field representative.
His union supporters include the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Local 809, and Machinists Local 190, but other unions have been divided over the contest.
Gipson said the state has neglected the neighborhoods he wants to represent in Los Angeles County.
“The district is in desperate need of resources, Gipson said.
“We need to have someone who is going to be a strong advocate on behalf of the district,” he said.
He said he will push for the state to provide more resources for public safety, parks and schools.
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