Former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg has decided not to challenge incumbent Democrat Fran Pavley for a Southern California Senate seat.
Hertzberg had expressed interest in running for the newly drawn 27th Senate District, a Ventura County swing seat that includes area he previously represented in the state Assembly. But he said in a statement issued today that he has decided to instead focus on the campaign for a proposed budget and governance ballot measure backed by California Forward Issue Action Fund and the Think Long Committee for California.
"After thoughtful consideration, I have decided not to pursue a campaign for the State Senate," Hertzberg, who has worked closely with both California Forward and Think Long, said. "I believe the extraordinary challenges we face in California can best be met with big ideas and independent voices. Pursuing a partisan campaign at this time would inevitably distract from my top priority -- reforming our government to better serve its citizens."
The announcement comes weeks after Sen. Tony Strickland, R-Moorpark, announced that he will run for an incumbent-free congressional seat instead of seeking re-election to the Senate in the district. Assemblyman Cameron Smyth, R-Santa Clarita, has been mentioned as a possible GOP candidate for the Senate seat, but has yet to make a decision on the race.
Hertzberg's decision allows Senate Democrats to avoid a potentially costly and divisive same-party battle in an election that could deliver the caucus a two-thirds majority in the upper house. Two other potential high-profile challengers to incumbent Democrats bowed out of their respective races in recent weeks. Assemblyman Sandre Swanson, D-Alameda, dropped out of the race for Sen. Loni Hancock's Bay Area Senate seat and Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, D-La Cañada-Flintridge, announced that he will not challenge Sen. Carol Liu, D-La Cañada-Flintridge, this year.
© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.
What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com
Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)
Here are some rules of the road:
• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "Report Abuse" link to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.
• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.
• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.
• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand.
• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.
• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.
• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.
• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.
• Don't flag other users' comments just because you don't agree with their point of view. Please only flag comments that violate these guidelines.
You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "Report Abuse" link to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.
If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them.
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "Report Abuse" link below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.