Assembly Races: Democrats Poised to Pick Up Seats in November

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Assembly primaries resulted in Democrats sporting their strongest candidates in three districts they have their eye on. Here's the rundown on some key races.

AD 1 -- Sen. Wes Chesbro is hoping to move over from the Senate to the Assembly. He won his primary unopposed with twice as many votes as his Republican rival.

AD 5 -- Dan Leahy pulled a surprisingly strong 14,389 votes unopposed as a Democrat. Incumbent Republican Roger Niello tallied just 18,105 votes in a three way primary against two nobodies. This district has picked up substantial numbers of Democrats lately, and could be competitive if Leahy is funded and runs a strong grassroots race.

AD 8 -- In this battle of outside interests, labor proved its mettle with Supervisor Mariko Yamada topping West Sacramento Mayor Chris Cabaldon by just over 1,000 votes (17,009 vs. 15,961). Cabaldon had a strong field campaign and coffers filled by EdVoice, but the CTA-led coalition hammered away with massive mailings that focused on Cabaldon's failure to pay taxes on time and his car being booted in Sacramento. It appears to have done the trick.

AD 10 -- El Dorado attorney Alyson Huber snared 65 percent in her Democratic primary for this suburban seat south of Sacramento.  Huber ran a strong campaign and focused on the netroots in her win. She'll face Republican Jack Sieglock, a San Joaquin supervisor, who took 43 percent of the vote in a three-way GOP primary. Sieglock is a garden variety, anti-tax Republican who recently blasted the California Supreme Court's decision on marriage equality by saying "Today, California families have been slapped in the face by the Supreme Court. I will use every tool available to me as an assemblyman to overturn this bad decision and restore traditional marriage as the law of the land." Hopefully Huber will give him Sieglock a run for a money in this district, which also has seen large GOP registration gains.

There's more...