Who Will Replace Oropeza?

Eight Candidates Vie For 28th Senate Seat

By Lyn Jensen, Carson Reporter

Eight candidates are competing to win the 28th Senate District seat, Feb. 15, in a Special Primary Election. The winner will fill a vacancy in the California State Senate left when Sen. Jenny Oropeza died this past October.

The field consists of two Democrats, four Republicans, and two candidates who are described by the California Secretary of State as having no party preference. Ted W. Lieu, a Democrat, is vigorously campaigning on his record as a former assemblyman and former Torrance City councilman. He represented the 53rd Assembly District, from 2005 to 2010 and then, facing term limits, mounted an unsuccessful campaign for state Attorney General.

None of the other candidates have Lieu’s level of public experience or campaign bankroll. The other Democrat running is Kevin Thomas McGurk, a public defense lawyer in Venice who has been virtually invisible so far as campaigning. He did not appear at a candidates’ forum sponsored by the Progressive Democrats Club in Carson on Jan. 8, but Lieu did and received the club’s endorsement. Lieu also recently appeared at and was endorsed by the Long Beach Lambda Democratic Club.

Republicans in the field include Jeffrey E. Fortini, a retired federal agent who resides in El Segundo, Martha Flores Gipson of Long Beach, an educator who campaigned for the 54th Assembly District this past year, James P. Thompson, a Lomita attorney, and Ron Valentine, an attorney in Manhattan Beach, who’s covering the district with signage.

As for the remaining candidates, Mark Lipman is a dancer, poet, and painter in Venice, who is active with Peace Action West. He declares in an online statement, “I have never registered with a political party.”

Michael Chamness is a nonprofit organization consultant, also of Venice, who has described himself as a member of the “Coffee Party,” a liberal response to the Tea Party.

The election will be an open primary, and is the first being held under the Top Two Primaries Act, also known as Proposition 14, approved by voters last June. It provides for a single ballot in all congressional, statewide, and legislative primaries. Voters may vote for any candidate regardless of party affiliation. If one candidate wins a majority of votes, no special general election will be held.

If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote on Feb. 15, a run-off will take place, on April 19, between the two candidates who receive the most votes, regardless of party. This means that two candidates from the same party (or having no party affiliation) could oppose each other in a special general election.

The 28th Senate District includes the cities of Carson, El Segundo, Torrance, Lomita, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, and parts of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

CANDIDATES’ WEB SITES

Lieu: www.tedlieu.com

Gibson: marthafloresgibson.com

Fortini: fortini4senate.com

Thompson: jamesthompson.com

Lipman: marklipman.blogspot.com

McGurk, Chamness, and Valentine have no Web sites as of presstime.