In the final weeks before the special election to fill the San Gabriel Valley-based 32nd Congressional District seat, Judy Chu, the heavily favored Democrat, is confident enough to have moved into smaller campaign headquarters.
Her Republican opponent and cousin by marriage, Betty Tom Chu, determined to make a strong bid despite long odds, has opened a campaign office for the first time since entering the race April 6. And the Libertarian in the three-way runoff, Christopher M. "Chris the Carpenter" Agrella, said he is still managing his shoestring campaign from a storage shed.
A spokesman for Judy Chu, 55, a member of the state Board of Equalization, said she no longer needed the large headquarters that hummed with activity during last month's hotly contested special primary that she won over her closest competitor, Democratic state Sen. Gil Cedillo.
Twelve candidates had flooded the May 19 ballot to replace Hilda Solis, the El Monte Democrat who gave up the seat to become U.S. Labor secretary.
Betty Chu, 72, a Monterey Park councilwoman, banker and lawyer, signaled with the opening of her campaign headquarters, after besting two others for the GOP nomination, that she is not conceding the race. Agrella, 55, who won a little more than 1% of the primary vote, seems to relish his outsider, underdog status. "You can vote for the person you want, not a party," he said.
Under the rules governing California's special elections, voters were allowed to choose among all the candidates, regardless of party affiliation. Because no candidate won a majority in the special primary, the contest then shifted to a July 14 runoff among the top vote-getters in each party that fielded a candidate.
Because the district is strongly Democratic, the "real" contest took place in the primary, political experts say. They believe that Judy Chu's election is now all but certain under a system in which most of California's legislative and congressional districts were drawn by state officeholders to protect incumbents and favor one major party.
Together, the eight Democrats on the open primary ballot received more than 73% of the vote, with almost 32% of the total going to Judy Chu and 23% to Cedillo. The three Republicans got about 25% of the vote, including more than 10% for Betty Chu.
"It's over now," Jaime A. Regalado, director of the Pat Brown Institute of Public Affairs at Cal State L.A., said after the primary.
