On Tuesday, February 25, two special elections were held to replace vacancies created when Senator Janet Nguyen resigned last year to assume a seat on the Orange County Board of Supervisors and when Assemblymember Vince Fong did not take the oath of office because he was concurrently elected to the United States House of Representatives. While ballots are still being counted, it appears that former State Senator Tony Strickland won his election with over 51% of the vote and could be sworn in as the 40th Senator later next week.  

Republican Stan Ellis from Kern County was sworn in as the 80th Assemblymember earlier this week, after receiving more than 63% of the vote. Neither of these districts were considered competitive, and it was highly likely a Republican would be elected. But with neither race being pushed to a runoff in April, both Strickland and Ellis will join their colleagues in Sacramento and start voting on bills sooner rather than later.

Chris Wysocki is WMA’s Legislative Advocate. He can be reached at Chris@wma.org.