Special Primary Election held next Tuesday
Voters in the Senate District 1 will cast ballots next Tuesday, March 26, in a special primary election to pick a successor for the office after former state senator Ted Gaines was elected to the state Board of Equalization last November.
The district includes all or parts of Lassen, Nevada, Alpine, El Dorado, Modoc, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, Shasta, Sierra and Siskiyou counties.
“The Senate District 1 election is a regular election,” said Julie Bustamante, Lassen County Clerk and Election Official. “The polls will be open on Election Day, Tuesday, March 26. The vote-by-mail ballots have already gone out.”
Bustamante said if no candidate garners 50 percent plus one vote, the top two vote-getters will advance to a run-off in the June 4 General Election.
According to the California Secretary of State’s Office, there are six official candidates seeking the office. They are: Democrat Steve Baird, manager, broker and author; Democrat Silke Pflueger, safety advocate and businesswoman; Republican Brian Dahle, farmer, businessman and assemblyman; Republican Theodore Dziuba, businessman; Republican Rex Hime, small business advocate; and, Republican Kevin Kiley, assemblyman and small businessman.
According to the local rumor mill, Baird, who ran against Ted Gaines as a Republican in the 2016 district 1 senate race on a “Jefferson State platform,” according to the Lassen County State of Jefferson Facebook page, has dropped out of the race. On Feb. 20 Baird sent an email to The Union newspaper in Nevada County announcing his withdrawal from the race.
The California Secretary of State’s Office responded to that news with a statement last Wednesday, March 13.
“There have been several inquiries regarding Steve Baird no longer being a candidate for the March 26, 2019, Senate District 1 Special Primary Election,” the statement read. “Pursuant to Elections Code section 8800: ‘No candidate whose declaration of candidacy has been filed for any primary election may withdraw as a candidate at that primary election,’ … and “The Certified List of Candidates for the March 26, 2019, Senate District 1 Special Primary Election, will not change. Persons listed on the Certified List of Candidates, are entitled to receive votes at the Special Primary Election to be held in the First State Senate District on March 26, 2019, by the reason of the Special Election Proclamation issued by the Governor of this State, to fill the vacancy in said district, and in compliance with provisions of the Elections Code … ”
For more information, call the Lassen County Clerk’s Office at 251-8217.
