The election season game of musical chairs has begun.
The announcement Monday by Carmel Democrat Bill Monning that he will challenge incumbent Republican Sam Blakeslee for the Central Coast’s Senate seat touched off a minor flurry of activity early this week among Santa Cruz Democrats. First, just hours after Monning’s announcement, County Supervisor Mark Stone declared his candidacy for Monning’s Assembly seat, which is considered safe for Democrats. On Tuesday, Santa Cruz Councilmember Lynn Robinson threw her hat in the ring for the Assembly seat as well.
Robinson bore the endorsement of Santa Cruz Mayor Ryan Coonerty—who is miffed over Stone’s Aug. 11 Coastal Commission vote against the La Bahia hotel. County Supervisor Neal Coonerty, father of the mayor, also cited the vote in a retraction of his endorsement of Stone.
The announcements follow the Citizens Redistricting Commission’s Aug. 15 release of final redistricting maps for the state. Locally the biggest change comes at the state Senate level. The 2001 feat of gerrymandering that produced a Republican District 15 at odds with Santa Cruz County’s history as a progressive area was largely reversed when the panel decided to include coastal Monterey County—another liberal area—in what will now be called Senate District 17. Monning’s political calculus no doubt took into consideration the fact that the district will now likely go to a Democrat. In a special election for the District 15 Senate seat last August, Blakeslee, of San Luis Obispo, defeated Santa Cruz Democrat John Laird by a little under five points.
As for Santa Cruz’s Assembly district, it will change in name—no longer District 27, it will now be called District 29—but it will effectively retain its shape and political character.
