State Sen. Fran Pavley kept her seat in the Senate this week, defeating Republican challenger Todd Zink. Pavley and Zink were running for a senate seat in the newly drawn 27th district.
Pavley reportedly received 52.6 percent of votes from voters in District 27 which includes Malibu, Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Topanga, Moorpark, Calabasas and the San Fernando Valley. Zink received 47.4 percent of the overall votes. In Malibu, Pavley beat Zink by nearly 1,000 votes (2,936 to 2,025).
Pavley, who currently represents District 23 in the State Senate, entered the world of elected politics in 1982 when she was voted the first mayor of Agoura Hills. She sat on the City Council until 1997. She was elected to three terms as a State Assemblywoman beginning in 2000. In 2008 she went on to the State Senate where she has authored bills to curb mortgage fraud and create clean-energy jobs that were later passed.
Zink, a political newcomer, served with the Marine Corps in the Iraq War and obtained a law degree from Loyola University Law School after returning from Iraq. He currently works as a deputy district attorney for Los Angeles County DA’s Office where he is in charge of prosecuting serious and violent offenders in the San Fernando Valley.