California Assembly District 72
Assembly District 72
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
Josh Lowenthal
Entrepreneur/Company President
Tyler Diep
Councilman/Huntington Beach Businessman
HR Note
Incumbent Party: Republican
Democratic vs Republican Voter Registration: 4.5% R
Trump vs Clinton Margin, 2016: 8.3% Clinton
Margin of Victory in Last Election: 16%
Top Two Primary Applicants, June 2018: Josh Lowenthal (36.8%), Tyler Diep (29.7%)
Democratic vs Republican Vote Share, June 2018: 26.5% R
With the incumbent Republican Assemblyman Travis Allen out of the race, having launched an unsuccessful bid for the job of governor, Democrats are hoping to flip this Orange County seat. Their chosen applicant is Josh Lowenthal, a businessman who comes from a family steeped in Democratic politics: His father is Congressman Alan Lowenthal and his mother is former Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal. But Republicans have the advantage in this district and their candidate has deep ties to the community. Republican Tyler Diep is an anchor on a Vietnamese TV station and serves on the Westminster City Council.
