The L.A. County Registrar-Recorder's office tells LBREPORT.com that no candidate filed paperwork to challenger Gonzalez in the 2020 election cycle for the district that includes roughly half of Long Beach and stretches north through S.E. L.A. County..

In fact, the County indicates that no Democrats, or Republicans, or Independents even sought paperwork to challenger her. One individual, a Green Party candidate, sought paperwork to gather signatures to enter the race...but apparently didn't file it.

The outcome isn't yet official; the CA's Secretary of State's office must first issue a list of certified candidates in the race on or before Dec. 26, but unless a write-in candidate surfaces, and presuming state Senator Gonzalez filed everything properly, she'll be the only person on the ballot. She's re-elected without opposition.

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In 2019, the state Senate seat vacancy drew a flurry of Democrat candidates from smaller L.A. County cities, as well as two Republican challengers, one of whom, Cudahy Councilman Jack Guerrero, a Harvard-Standford degreed MBA, scored a stunning political upset by finishing second in the April 2019 primary.

But despite Mr. Guerrero's newsworthy primary win (which might have made headlines if a poorly funded small town Democrat had advanced to a runoff against a corporate funded big city Republican), the CA Republican Party and LB Area Republican Party both failed to seize the opportunity. CA and LB Republican party leaders failed to highlight the race where it could resonate in Los Angeles major-media market and failed to provide the Guerrero campaign with financial resources to wage a meaningful battle against the well-funded, well-organized Gonzalez campaign.

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In addition, the Guerrero campaign chose not to cite Gonzalez's LB City Council voting record against her, despite her votes on a number of items unpopular with LB Democrats, independents and Republicans. These included enabling LB's Mayor and Council incumbents' to triple annual sums collected in their contributor-funded "officeholder" accounts (2015), politically weaponize the accounts in 2017, and fail to budget restoration of LBPD's field anti-gang unit (although her Council district endured the inequity of the highest number of shootings and homicides in 2018.)

The net result enabled Gonzalez to cruise into the state Senate with a roughly 68% victory in June 2019, now amplified by her re-election in 2020 with no opponent for a four year term.

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Oct. 4, 2020: Text added noting a write-in candidate could surface. Elizabeth Castillo (Dem) did indeed emerge as a write-in candidate from the Narcg 3, 2020 primary nad will face Gonzalez in the Nov. 3 election.

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