SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Democrat Wendy Carrillo of Los Angeles will be the newest member of the California Assembly in January.
She won a Tuesday special election over fellow Democrat Luis Lopez, who has conceded the race. She’s taking the seat of Jimmy Gomez, who was elected to Congress earlier this year. Some mail-in ballots have not been counted, but Carrillo leads Lopez by more than 900 votes.
When Carrillo takes office, Democrats will once again hold the supermajority needed to pass tax and fee increases without Republican help. The party is one below that threshold now since Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra resigned amid allegations of sexual misconduct.
Carrillo’s victory also boosts the number of women in the Legislature to 27 - still the lowest number in years.
“Don’t wait to be tapped on the shoulder,” Carrillo wrote on Twitter on Wednesday. “Believe in yourself. Build Support. Organize. Mobilize.”
Carrillo is a former labor leader and journalist. She is an immigrant from El Salvador who became a legal resident of the United States at age 13.
The special election Tuesday was the fourth this year in the Los Angeles district, trigged by former congressman Xavier Becerra’s appointment to be state attorney general in early 2017. A primary and general election were held to replace him, which Gomez won, then two more elections were held to fill the open Assembly seat.
Less than 10 percent of the district’s 220,000 registered voters cast ballots Tuesday, according to county election results.
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