This year, term limits causes the State Assembly to lose one of its most qualified legislators, Assemblywoman Sharon Runner. (I remember “back in the day” when I was running for State President of the California Republican Assembly and Sharon, and her husband, George, were heading up the mega-sized Antelope Valley Republican Assembly. Fortunately they supported me in my effort!) The primary election to replace her has presented one of the most important elections for Republicans in the state.
Generally, Republican primaries contain candidates with a mixture of similar values and similar backgrounds. The most viable candidates are usually very qualified Republicans pitted against each other despite similar ideologies. To many on the outside, no matter which candidate wins the primary, the votes will be the same and they will be reliable.
However, in the election to replace Sharon Runner, there is a candidate in the primary behind whom which virtually all Republican leaders are united. The other two candidates in the race are engaging in rather anemic campaigns, demonstrating little support. The candidates running are Palmdale Mayor Pro Tem Steve Knight, (son of the late Senator Pete Knight), Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford and Attorney Steve Fox.
A great many Republican leaders have unified behind Steve Knight (pictured) from the beginning of his campaign. I have spoken with Steve who certainly represents core Republican values. He is a fiscal conservative and has signed a pledge to not raise our taxes. He wants to protect traditional family values while reducing the size of government in our lives. His 17 years as a police officer make him a strong candidate to represent law enforcement issues, and he has the policy experience from his years on the Palmdale City Council where he now serves as Mayor Pro Tem.
Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford first crossed my radar when he ran a quixotic, nasty and ineffective primary challenge to Assemblwoman Runner in 2006. He has supported tax increases and a history of “working with” with public employee unions in the district. If that wasn’t odd enough for a Republican, Ledford wrote a letter encouraging legislators to reinstate the “Tripling of the Car Tax” that the Governor revoked after being elected in the 2003 statewide recall election.
Steve Fox is a personal injury attorney from Lancaster and to date has financed his campaign with his own money. I really don’t have much to say about him, other than he seems to be spending his own money to buy some radio spots that I think are a bit iffy.
Knight has received endorsements from the Howard Jarvis taxpayers Association, the California Republican Assembly, 30 of the 32 sitting Republican Assembly members and almost every Republican elected official in the district.
We’ll be looking at a lot of competitive, knock-down, drag out GOP legislative primaries over the next month – but this will not be one of them. I’m predicting a large and decisive victory for the popular Knight. Some candidates will be waiting days for the final results of their nail-biter campaigns. I predict AD 36 to be wrapped up with the first cycle of absentee ballot returns…
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