California Assembly District 66
Job Description
This fall, California’s lower legislative chamber will again be filling all 80 of its elected member positions.
Working conditions will depend on the partisan breakdown of all new hires. With the current composition of the Assembly—55 Democrats and 25 Republicans—Democrats are holding on to their two-thirds supermajority by only one seat. A supermajority in both the Assembly and Senate would allow Democrats, if united, to raise taxes, override vetoes, place constitutional amendments on the ballot, and largely ignore their Republican colleagues.
Job duties include:
- Spend months drafting, discussing, and haggling over bills that will affect the lives of all Californians
- Retain the option of waiting until the very last week of session before passing or dumping most of said bills in a flurry
- Spend months drafting, discussing, and haggling over resolutions that will affect the lives of virtually no Californians
- Help craft a multi-billion-dollar budget for the state
- Strive to represent the interests of 500,000 constituents, most of them strangers
Applicants
Al Muratsuchi
South Bay Assemblymember
Frank A. Scotto
Small Business Owner
HR Note
Incumbent Party: Democratic
Democratic vs Republican Voter Registration: 10.6% D
Trump vs Clinton Margin, 2016: 26.4% Clinton
Margin of Victory in Last Election: 8.2%
Top Two Primary Applicants, June 2018: Al Muratsuchi (50.9%), Frank A. Scotto (43.2%)
Democratic vs Republican Vote Share, June 2018: 13.7% D
This swing seat in coastal Los Angeles County has flipped back and forth between Republicans and Democrats in recent elections. It’s such a competitive district that in 2016, then-President Barack Obama took the unusual step of making an endorsement in a California legislative race when he announced support for Democrat Al Muratsuchi, who went on to win. This year, the former mayor of Torrance, Republican Frank Scotto, is working to take the seat from Muratsuchi by campaigning against his vote to increase gas taxes to pay for road repairs.
