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Uranga Drops Out Of State Senate Race, Endorses Gonzalez...Leaving Austin (With $14k Collected Since 2017) Only Other LB Incumbent In Race Besides Gonzalez

Four other SE L.A. County electeds have also filed candidate fundraising paperwork


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(Jan. 3, 2019, 4:00 a.m.) -- LB Councilman Roberto Uranga, who filed initial FPPC candidate fundraising paperwork less than a month ago to pursue a LB-Huntington Park state Senate seat vacated by now-Insurance Commissioner-elect Ricardo Lara, has dropped out of the race and endorsed fellow LB Councilmember Lena Gonzalez. At late afternoon Jan. 2, the Gonzalez campaign released the following statement by Councilman Uranga:.

"After carefully reviewing my potential candidacy and the effects this would have on my District, my supporters and my family, I have decided not to seek the office of Senator for Senate District 33 (Lara). I wish to thank all who have supported and encouraged me to seek this office and ask that they join me in supporting Long Beach Councilwoman Lena Gonzalez as she moves forward with her campaign...Long Beach comprises a major part of Senate District 33 and Councilwoman Gonzalez and I share many of the same values. Her election will ensure Long Beach has a voice in Sacramento and will add a woman to the California State Senate."

That leaves only one other LB Councilmember -- Al Austin -- in the race besides Gonzalez, who filed her candidacy paperwork about a week after Uranga with the endorsement of immediate past incumbent Senator Lara, followed shortly thereafter by the endorsement of LB Mayor Robert Garcia.

Four officeholders from smaller SE L.A. County cities -- Leticia Vasquez-Wilson (former Lynwood Mayor, now member of Central Basin Municipal Water District governing board), Ana Maria Quintana (Bell City Councilmember), Ali Saleh (Bell City Councilmember), Jose Solache (Lynwood City Councilmember) -- have also filed paperwork to represent the district which includes roughly half of Long Beach and stretches from downtown LB to Huntington Park (map below.)



In contrast to Councilman Uranga (who filed initial candidate fundraising papers in early Dec. 2018), Councilman Austin began seriously pursuing the state Senate seat in the second half of 2017 (when it was due to open in 2020 or possibly sooner if Lara won the 2018 Insurance Commissioner race.) Austin, re-elected to a second Council term in 2016, raised funds to pursue the Sacramento opportunity and as of June 2018, his state Senate committee reported roughly $14,000 cash on hand.

However that was before LB voters approved LB Charter Amendment BBB in November 2018 that now gives Austin an opportunity to seek a third LB Council term in 2020 without a write-in requirement.

Austin is familiar with Sacramento as chair of the Council's State Legislation Committee (on which Gonzalez is also a member) and works for a public employee union (AFSCME) but angered other organized labor reps by voting against "Claudia's Law," a LB hotel workers ordinance that Gonzalez (and Uranga) supported.

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LB Councilwoman Gonzalez has thus far only faced voters in LB's 1st Council district in the 2014 election cycle (endorsed by then-exiting incumbent Vice Mayor/Councilman Garcia for whom she worked as his district office rep.) She didn't face a re-election challenge in April 2018 although her northern downtown/WLB/Central Council district had a disproportionate number of shootings (and had LB's highest number of 2018 homicides: 11 out of 30 citywide.

On taking office as Mayor in mid-July 2014, Garcia chose Gonzalez to chair the Council's Elections Oversight Committee where she advanced a change in LB law that now lets LB's Mayor and Councilmembers triple the previous amounts they could annually collect in their "officeholder" [campaign contributor funded] accounts. Two years later, Gonzalez voted to approve a change to LB law advanced by Garcia's subsequently named Elections Oversight Committee chair, Councilwoman Jeannine Pearce, to change LB law to let LB's Mayor and Councilmembers use their "officeholder" accounts to support candidates running for other offices.

On December 11, 2018, Councilwoman Gonzalez seconded a motion by Councilwoman Jeannine Pearce to "receive and file" a downtown/Alamitos Beach parking study performed by a City Hall-hired consultant and declined to seek additional data to address flaws/omissions cited by parking-impacted residents (TAPS) whose lawsuit settlement required the City to conduct the study. (LBREPORT.com coverage here.

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