Election filing period begins
LANCASTER — The filling period for potential candidates in the City of Lancaster’s April 14 municipal election, and the March 3, 25th Congressional District special primary election, began Monday.
Three seats will be up for election on the City Council next year: Those held by Mayor R. Rex Parris and Councilmen Ken Mann and Darrell Dorris.
Parris was first elected mayor in April 2008. He was re-elected in 2010, 2012 and 2016. Mann was first elected to the City Council in April 2008. He was re-elected in 2012 and 2016.
Parris and the City Council appointed Dorris to the Council on Dec. 10, to complete the unexpired term of former councilwoman Angela Underwood-Jacobs.
It is not clear whether anyone pulled nomination papers Monday, for the April 14 election. The City Clerk’s office said it will not release information until a potential candidate has filed his or her nomination paperwork.
The nomination period for the April 14 City of Lancaster municipal election closes at 5 p.m., Jan. 17. If an incumbent does not file by that deadline, the filing period will be extended to 6 p.m., Jan. 22.
The City will not release a complete list of candidates until after the close of the nomination period on Jan. 17, or Jan. 22, if the nomination period is extended.
Underwood-Jacobs announced her intention to resign on Dec. 3, at the Oct. 22 City Council meeting, to focus on her campaign for the 25th Congressional District seat formerly held by Democrat Katie Hill.
Underwood-Jacobs later withdrew from the Congressional race, after Hill resigned and former Rep. Steve Knight, who lost to Hill in November 2018, announced his intention to run for the seat.
Thirteen people filed nomination paperwork for Hill’s former seat by the Dec. 6 deadline, to run in the March 3 presidential primary, for the Nov. 3 election. They include five Republicans, six Democrats and two candidates who listed no party preference.
The Republican candidates include Knight, Valencia small businessman and father Mike Garcia, former Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos, who served time in federal prison after pleading guilty to lying to federal investigators; Santa Clarita telecommunications executive Kenneth Jenks and attorney Dave Lozano.
Democratic candidates who hope to hold on to the seat include Assemblywoman Christy Smith, D-Santa Clarita.
Other Democratic candidates include Palmdale patient resource worker Getro Franck Elize, Los Angeles Democrat and documentary filmmaker Christopher C. Smith, Novato Democrat Cenk Uygur, host of the progressive “Young Turks” news channel on YouTube; Palmdale attorney/community organizer Anibal Valdez-Ortega and university professor Robert Cooper III.
The two candidates who listed no party preference are Otis Lee Cooper, a legal defense investigator from Stevenson Ranch and Chad “St. Michael” Henry, a retired federal employee from Palmdale.
As of 4:30 p.m., Monday, only Knight and Jenks pulled nomination papers to run in the March 3 Special Primary Election, according to information on the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder-County Clerk’s website.
The filing period for the March 3, 25th Congressional District special primary election closes Jan. 17. If no candidate gets 50% of the vote, then a runoff election between the top two candidates will take place on May 12.
The successful candidate will complete the remainder of Hill’s term, which runs through January 2021.