It's official: Democrats now have their Assembly supermajority.
Incumbent Republican Assemblyman Chris Norby conceded Wednesday that he had been beaten by Democratic challenger Sharon Quirk-Silva in a newly drawn Orange County district.
"I wish my successor well," Norby said in a phone call from Honduras, where his family was spending time with his wife's ailing mother.
"I don't see any way of this turning out the way I'd like," Norby said of his prospects of overcoming Quirk-Silva in absentee or provisional ballots that remain uncounted. The two candidates were nearly 3,350 votes apart late Wednesday.
Norby's concession means that Democrats will have 54 of 80 seats in the lower house next year.
Democrats also are assured of a supermajority in the Senate, marking the first time since 1883 that the party has wielded such power in the Legislature.
– Jim Sanders
THE STATE WORKER
A state-run website that tracks state and local government employee compensation relaunched this week with upgrades to make data more accessible. The state controller's office, which maintains publicpay.ca.gov, says it includes the latest state and local data available – 2011 for state and higher education, and 2010 for cities, counties and special districts.
– Jon Ortiz
WORTH REPEATING
"The party has tried to move to the right, and now we can see that the action and the votes are more in the center." ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, California's former Republican governor, telling the Wall Street Journal what he's been saying for years – that his party needs to move to the center to stay relevant
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