Deadline for filing to run is nearing
PALMDALE — The filing period for the March 3 special primary election for the 25th Congressional District seat closes Friday.
The district includes Palmdale, part of Lancaster, Santa Clarita and Simi Valley. The seat has been vacant since former Democratic Rep. Katie Hill resigned last November.
The candidate who wins the special primary election, or a run-off election if no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, will serve until January 2021 when the seat expires.
Voters will also choose a candidate for the full twoyear term on March 3.
As of Friday, 12 candidates pulled or filed their nomination papers for the special primary election. Many of those candidates’
names will also appear on the ballot for the full-term seat.
The 12 candidates are five Republicans, six Democrats, and one no party preference candidate. Two of the 12 candidates, Lancaster Democrat F. David Rudnick and no party preference candidate Christin Noel Powers, of Florida, did not file nomination papers for the fullterm seat.
As of Friday, Republican Steve Knight, who lost the seat to Hill in November 2018, filed his nomination paperwork on Dec. 23, the first day of eligibility, according to the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder-County Clerk’s office.
Other Republican candidates who filed their nomination papers are businessman and father Mike Garcia and attorney/business owner David Lozano who filed on Monday; mother and businesswoman Courtney Lackey, who filed nomination papers on Tuesday; and Santa Clarita telecommunications executive Kenneth Jenks, who filed on Wednesday.
Former Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos, who served time in federal prison after pleading guilty to lying to federal investigators, pulled nomination papers for the special primary but has not filed yet. Papadopoulos’ name will appear on the ballot for the full-term seat.
The Democratic candidates who filed nomination papers for the special primary election include Assemblywoman Christy Smith, who filed Monday. Progressive journalist Cenk Uygur, Palmdale patient resource worker Geto Elize, and Palmdale immigration attorney Aníbal Valdéz-Ortega filed their nomination papers on Wednesday.
Rudnick, a Lancaster business owner, filed his nomination papers on Thursday. Democrat Robert Cooper III, a university professor, also filed on Thursday.
Christin Noel Powers, a no party preference candidate who listed a Florida address, also filed nomination papers on Thursday.
Los Angeles Democrat Christopher C. Smith, whose name will appear on the ballot for the fullterm seat, has not yet pulled his nomination papers for the special primary election.