California Assembly District 44
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
Jacqui Irwin
Assemblymember
Ronda Baldwin-Kennedy
Attorney/Mother
HR Note
Incumbent Party: Democratic
Democratic vs Republican Voter Registration: 11% D
Trump vs Clinton Margin, 2016: 20.1% Clinton
Margin of Victory in Last Election: 18%
Top Two Primary Applicants, June 2018: Jacqui Irwin (51.9%), Ronda Baldwin-Kennedy (44%)
Democratic vs Republican Vote Share, June 2018: 11.9% D
Republicans are hoping to take back this seat, mounting a challenge to incumbent Democratic Assemblywoman Jacqui Irwin. The Republican challenger, attorney Ronda Baldwin-Kennedy, is campaigning against two controversial bills that Irwin voted for: SB 1, which raised gas taxes to pay for road repairs, and SB 54, which limits coordination between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities. This district that covers parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties has been a swing seat in the past but has grown more solidly Democratic.
