The race to fill the vacant Assembly District 1 seat is headed for a Nov. 5 runoff between Democrat Elizabeth Betancourt and Republican Megan Dahle, after the two garnered 39.1 percent and 36.2 percent of the vote, respectively, as of late Tuesday evening.
Betancourt, a local farmer and small business owner, was the lone Democrat in a five-person race, while Dahle snagged the highest percentage of the vote among the four Republicans. Dahle is a former school board member of Big Valley Joint USD, a small school district in Lassen County, and is the wife of Senator Brian Dahle (R-Bieber), who vacated the Assembly District 1 seat in June when he was elected to the Senate District 1 seat, replacing Ted Gaines.
Assembly District 1, which is projected as a safely Republican district, covers parts of Placer and Butte counties and all of Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra and Siskiyou counties. Patrick Henry Jones, Lane Rickard and Joe Turner, the other three Republicans on the ballot, garnered 17.3 percent, 1.8 percent and 5.6 percent of the vote, respectively, putting the total vote count for the race at 39.1 percent Democrat and 60.9 percent Republican. The Assembly currently stands at 61 Democrats and 18 Republicans.
Note: CSBA does not endorse individual candidates for elected office in any local or statewide races. The content of this report is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an endorsement for any candidate(s).
