6 candidates vying for new 64th Assembly District seat
5 Democrats, 1 Republican face off in newly aligned southeast L.A. County race
There are two mayors, a vice mayor, a councilwoman, a school board member and a pest control manager/pastor competing in the June7 primary for the open 64th Assembly District seat, which covers portions of southern Los Angeles County and La Habra in Orange County.
The first five all are Latino Democrats. That gives Cudahy Mayor Elizabeth Alcantar, Downey Mayor Blanca Pacheco, Norwalk Vice Mayor Ana Valencia, La Habra Councilwoman Rose Espinoza and Norwalk school board member Roberto “Rob” Cancio a potential advantage in a district that's nearly two-thirds Latino and has voter registration that favors Democrats by more than 30 points.
Meanwhile, political newcomer Raul Ortiz Jr. of La Mirada is an ultra-conservative Republican running in one of the mostly solidly blue Assembly districts in Southern California. His advantage, in the short term, might be math. The five viable Democratic candidates could divide the primary vote in a way that helps Ortiz finish as one of the top two vote-getters on June 7, meaning he could advance to the November general election, where the sole Democrat would be heavily favored to win.
That's making for a particularly competitive primary fight among the challengers on the left in the district.
With no incumbent in the race due to how redistricting shuffled political boundaries, the California Democratic Party was unable to reach consensus on a candidate to back in the primary. Other Democratic leaders and organizations are largely dividing their support between Pacheco and Valencia.
For example, Pacheco touts key support from Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Downey, and the California Latino Legislative Caucus, while Valencia is backed by Sen. Connie Leyva, D-Chino, and the Orange County Federation of
Labor. Both women are backed by state Sen. Bob Archuleta, D-Pico Rivera.
Pacheco, 48, has an advantage as the first Latina mayor of the largest city in the district. While she's an attorney focused on municipal law for her day job, she also has local name recognition for her extensive work with organizations such as Gangs Out of Downey and Kiwanis.
In her Assembly campaign, Pacheco touts plans to create middle-class jobs, make housing and health care more affordable, fully fund public schools, address climate change and support equity for groups such as immigrants and the LGBTQ community.
In terms of how she'd measure her job performance if elected, Pacheco said, “If I can make my constituents safe, help more people in our district buy homes, bring home funding for our local schools and help facilitate an environment where good jobs are created, I will consider that a success.”
Valencia, who immigrated from Mexico, has been a teacher for 26 years. She teaches sixth grade in Huntington Park and has been a leader with her local teachers' union. She also was a member of the NorwalkLa Mirada School District Board from 2001 until 2020. She then won a seat on the Norwalk City Council.
Valencia didn't respond to repeated requests to answer questions about her views and her campaign website doesn't discuss her platform.
Though she's just 28 years old, Alcantar has drawn support from two Assembly members and a slew of local leaders for her bid.
An activist since college focusing on issues such as immigration and education, Alcantar works for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, or CHIRLA. In 2020, when she was 26, Alcantar made headlines for how she guided Cudahy through a jet dumping fuel on her city just a week after she became the youngest person and first Latina to serve as its mayor.
Her Assembly campaign is focused on boosting affordable housing and decreasing homelessness while pushing for universal health care, tuition-free college and job training programs and environmental justice.
“As a state legislator,” she said, “success would mean advocating on the issues and passing bold, meaningful legislation in health care, education, housing, and the environment to help our working families in the 64th Assembly District.”
Alcantar self-identified as the most progressive of the candidates. On a scale of 1-10, with one being far left, Alcantar rated herself a three.
Pacheco gave herself a four and both Cancio and Espinoza gave themselves a five. Valencia and Ortiz didn't respond.
Cancio, 35, who identified as a centrist on that scale, got his start in politics not long ago.
He's a decorated combat veteran and sociology professor with a PhD in mental health. After he protested the Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District board appointing someone to fill a vacancy in 2021, Cancio easily won a seat on the board during a special election.
As a candidate for an Assembly seat, Cancio has a solid list of local endorsements. He touts plans to boost home construction, work to repeal Proposition47, expand mental health services and support more in-state drilling for oil to create energy independence.
“I'm a trained statistician and data guides my work,” Cancio said. “So, I'd say increased state and regional numbers of higher wage jobs, increased numbers of kids going to college or trade schools and a rise in the standard of living would be important benchmarks for whether I do a good job in the Assembly.”
The candidate with the strongest ties to the Orange County slice of the district is Espinoza. She is backed by county Democrats and has been on the La Habra City Council since 2000, including five terms as mayor.
On the downside for Espinoza, who grew up in a local migrant labor community, only 12% of the district's nearly 300,000 voters live in Orange County. On the upside, she might be the only candidate with some national name recognition. Her nonprofit, Rosie's Garage, which she founded in 1991 to provide after-school tutoring to local kids, spawned a documentary on KCET, coverage in outlets such as People magazine and a 1994 invitation to the White House Rose Garden.
If elected to the Assembly, Espinoza, 70, said she wants to build more affordable housing, temporarily suspend the gas tax, focus on wrap-around services for homeless residents and limit government mandates around issues such as COVID-19 and climate change.
When it comes to measuring her success in office, Espinoza cited her work of more than 22 years in city council.
“Success for me is improving the quality of life for resident members, working well with my colleagues on the city council, living up to our city motto of a `caring community,' celebrating local business owners and being reelected to serve the resident members,” she said.
As for the sole Republican in the race, Ortiz has been endorsed by the California Republican Assembly. He's campaigning with a slate of GOP candidates calling themselves “You First,” with 38th District challenger Eric Ching, 30th Senate District challenger Mitch Clemmons and 56th Assembly District candidate Jessica Martinez making the rounds together to promote their campaigns at area churches and community events.
Ortiz didn't answer questions about his views or what he would work toward if elected. But in videos posted to his campaign's Instagram page, he said he opposes abortion rights, wants to “refund police,” supports tough penalties for criminals and wants to “make California golden again.”
Ortiz also speaks against COVID-19 vaccines. In one video he calls vaccines “experimental gene therapy depopulation” shots, and equates requests to show proof of vaccination to Nazis asking people to “show their papers.”
While there's a clear ideological line between Ortiz and the other five candidates, there also are significant distinctions for voters to parse among the Democrats.
On the question of singlepayer health care, for example, Alcantar was the only one to say she supports the idea. Cancio and Pacheco said no and Espinoza and Valencia didn't respond.
When it comes to abortion rights, Alcantar, Cancio and Pacheco all said they strongly support a woman's right to choose. Espinoza said she “would support an abortion when the procedure is necessary for the life and health of the mother.” Valencia didn't respond.
In terms of government policies to address climate change, Alcantar and Pacheco said much more aggressive policies are needed, Cancio said slightly more aggressive policies are in order and Espinoza said environmental policies should be kept as they are now. Valencia didn't respond.
Elections officials will begin mailing primary ballots to all registered voters May 9. Centers will open for in-person voting starting May 28.