by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Your next Assemblyman from the 80th District:

Coachella, CA - Early this morning Manuel Perez declared victory in the Democratic primary in the 80th Assembly District. Perez won an overwhelming victory by building a strong multi-ethnic and diverse coalition in Riverside County and Imperial County.

"People power made the difference in this election," declared Democratic nominee Manuel Perez. "My message of hope and values resonated across both counties as voters yearned for new leadership, new energy and common values."

Progressives around the state could really learn from this guy.  I met Manuel Perez almost a year ago and was really thrilled by the transformative nature of his candidacy, someone who understands the issues facing California but can also put together the progressive argument in a broad and powerful way.  Plus he can reach out and help build a new generation of Hispanic leadership in the desert area that will leave its mark long after he's out of the picture.  Mark my words, there's a leadership position in this guy's future, sooner rather than later.

The great thing is that the best chance we have for a pickup in November is not a Lou Correa-type Democrat but a real fighter for progressive values.  You don't have to be afraid of your beliefs, you can speak to them and win.  That's what Perez' victory signifies.

(and a little labor money didn't hurt either)

by Robert in Monterey [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

I had to go to bed sometime!

OK, the districts for the most part have 100% of the vote in.  However, as we saw in February, there could be a lot of uncounted votes out there between late absentee ballots and provisionals, so not every race has been decided.  Here's what the AP has still outstanding:

Congress:

CA-02, Jeff Morris leads by just 259 votes over AJ Sekhon.

CA-41, Tim Prince leads by 970 votes over Rita Ramirez-Dean (that seems like enough of a cushion, but they haven't called it yet)

In the races decided overnight, Christina Avalos won CA-40's nomination, and Nick Leibham got the nod in CA-50.

Senate:

All the races have been called.  Rod Wright won the SD-25 race.

Assembly:

Still waiting on two races.  In AD-78, Marty Block holds a 397-vote lead on Maxine Sherard.  And in AD-80, I'm willing to say that Manuel Perez won, but the AP isn't yet.  Perez is up by 1,800-odd votes.

I'll have a post-mortem up later in the morning.  My early take is that it's a mixed bag for progressives, but mostly it was a pretty darn good night.

by Robert in Monterey [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Calitics has deleted several posts by BlueBeaumontBoyz that made allegations against Manuel Perez that could not be confirmed or substantiated. It is Calitics policy to remove diaries that make these kind of unproven criminal charges about a candidate.

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

I think our podcast of the 80th AD went exceedingly well. The mayor of Coachella, Eduardo Garcia, called in to talk about job creation and  related topics. And we took a few calls throughout the show to talk about issues in the race.

Here are the websites for the four candidates:

Rick Gonzales.

Dr. Richard Guttierez

Manuel Perez

Greg Pettis.

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

We've been doing the podcasts for a while now, and I think we're going to try to establish some consistency in when we do these things live.  Our goal is to stick with the 3:30 on Monday time slot.  You can even call in to the show to talk to David Dayen and myself when we do these things. Our Call-in # is (718) 664-9561. Here's our channel where you can listen to our archive and get show information for all of our shows.  You can also subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.

This Monday, we'll be having an episode discussing the 80th AD race, a district stretching from Palm Springs down to the border in Riverside and Imperial Counties.  We'll be talking to a couple of candidates, Manuel Perez and, hopefully, Rick Gonzales. We've not yet heard from Greg Pettis, but we'd be happy to get him on the show too. So, check it out live on Monday, or at any time via the podcast.