Brownley won in almost every area of the district except Calabasas, and took the largest share of Malibu voters with 37 percent. She faces Republican Tony Dolz in November, who is a founding member of the Minuteman Project, an anti-immigration citizens’ group that patrols the border between the states and Mexico.
By Max Taves / Special to the Times
The five-way race to replace termed-out Assemblywoman Fran Pavley in the Democratic primary was expected to be close. But Julia Brownley’s large win last Tuesday defied expectations-even her own.
“It’s fair to say that the election was a surprise,” said Brownley, president of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Directors.
Brownley won with 35 percent of the vote. Her closest rival, Calabasas City Councilman Barry Groveman, received almost 27 percent.
Denny Zane managed Brownley’s campaign and was also surprised by the election’s outcome. “I thought it was going to be 33, or 32, to 31. We expected it to be closer. But we expected to win.”
Jonathan Levey, an attorney and professor at Cal State Channel Islands, garnered 20 percent of the vote. Kelly Hayes-Raitt, an environmental activist, received roughly 15 percent and Shawn Casey O’Brien, a talk-radio host, received 3 percent.
Groveman’s large campaign war chest gave him frontrunner status throughout the race. According to the California secretary of state, he spent almost $1 million on the race-nearly four times more than Brownley. Groveman gambled a large part of his campaign expenditures on television ads. Brownley and her other competitors stuck to mailings.
Brownley received endorsements from the Democratic Party and district leaders Pavley and State Sen. Sheila Kuehl, who actively campaigned for Brownley.
The 41st Assembly District runs along the coast from Santa Monica to Oxnard and along the Valley from Westlake Village to Encino. Although Santa Monica comprises only a third of the district’s population, the city played a decisive role in the race. Brownley won 46 percent of the city’s votes.
Groveman won in the San Fernando Valley. But Brownley won in almost every other area of the district except Calabasas. Brownley won the largest share of Malibu voters with 37 percent.
Brownley’s campaign built on her name recognition in Santa Monica. The school board president credits her win in part to her base in the city after 11 years of serving on the SMMUSD.
But building bases and creating name recognition dogged Brownley’s opponents.
“It became clear to me that of the candidates with money, they didn’t have a base to build on,” Zane said.
Levey’s campaign spent nearly $500,000 to build support in the district. “The biggest challenge I had was getting my name out. I knocked on 7,500 doors,” he said.
Primaries usually draw few voters to the polls, and last Tuesday was no exception. Only 28 percent of registered Democrats participated in the primary. More than 50 percent of registered Democrats cast ballots in 2000. Levey and Hayes-Raitt lamented the low turnout.
Registered Democrats consistently outnumber Republicans in the district. And Brownley is expected to easily win the November general election. But she is not taking any chances.
“I intend to run a full-fledged campaign. I’m not taking anything for granted,” Brownley said.
Tony Dolz overwhelmingly won the Republican primary capturing more than 70 percent of the district’s Republican voters. The November race between Dolz and Brownley will pit two ideological opposites against each other.
Dolz is a telecommunications specialist and a founding member of the Minuteman Project. He has made illegal immigration the single issue of his campaign. Dolz has spent time with the Minutemen on the borders of Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas. He supports deporting undocumented workers and changing the constitutional amendment that gives the children of undocumented workers citizenship.
Dolz acknowledged the district’s historically liberal voting record. But he said this year’s politics are different. “This election is not like any other. This election is a referendum on the dereliction of our government toward protecting our borders…And no single issue that Julia [Brownley] can bring up can compare to the effects of immigration,” Dolz said.
According to the Secretary of State, Dolz has not raised any campaign funds for the November election. Brownley will be able to use any remaining money from her primary campaign for this election.