With the Tuesday, June 7, presidential primary in the near past, candidates are gearing up for the November election, including Malibu native Henry Stern, who was voted to be a nominee in the State Senate election.
In the race to replace current termed-out State Senator Fran Pavley, who represents the 27th Senate District, which includes Malibu, San Fernando Valley, Thousand Oaks, Agoura Hills, Westlake Village, Calabasas, Simi Valley, Moorpark and a portion of Santa Clarita, Stern won the nomination. He received 29,946 votes (31.14 percent) in Los Angeles County, beating competitor Janice Kamenir-Reznik who had 21,927 votes (22.80 percent), according to the County of Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder.
In Malibu, there were 1,387 votes cast for Stern and 344 for Kamenir-Reznick. Across the district, Stern received 43,323 votes (26.3 percent) to Kamenir-Reznick’s 32,212 (19.6 percent).
Republican candidate Steve Fazio will face Stern in the November election after being nominated with 62,385 (37.9 percent) in the district, 29,529 votes (30.70 percent) in Los Angeles County and 763 in Malibu.
“I’m confident that the broad, bipartisan coalition of firefighters, environmental leaders, educators, nurses, deputies, community, small business and local elected leaders that supported me in the primary will grow to be even broader and stronger as we approach the November election,” Stern wrote in an email to The Malibu Times. “We’ll keep our sleeves rolled up for the duration, and our momentum will continue.”
Stern, who has served as the senior policy advisor to Pavley, is a sixth-generation Californian who was raised in Malibu. He is a graduate of Harvard University and UC Berkeley Law School.
Pavley, State Senator Ben Allen, Congressmember Ted Lieu and the Sierra Club of California, among others, have endorsed him.
Stern heads to the race with support from locals, including an endorsement from the Malibu Democratic Club.
“I believe that Malibu would be in safe hands with Stern,” Malibu Democratic Club Vice President Ted Vaill wrote in a letter to The Malibu Times, dated May 26.
Fazio is also a Southern California native, who has roots in the San Fernando Valley dating back to the 1960s. Also tied to Malibu, Fazio completed both an MBA and doctorate at Pepperdine University, where he later taught as an adjunct professor.
“I taught at Pepperdine where I was able to look at the beautiful landscape of Malibu,” Fazio said in a phone interview with The Malibu Times. Fazio emphasized that the two share many of the same values when it comes to the importance of protecting the environment.
“I care just as much about the region,” Fazio explained. “I’m a beach admirer.”
Fazio explained that he was raised in the area and he raised his family in the area, so he wants to “make sure we preserve a lot of the values we have as people who grew up in the area.”
Fazio spent 35 years building a team and expanding Fazio Cleaners. If elected State Senator, Fazio will “use his experience to offer common-sense reforms that create jobs and lessen the everyday burdens that fall upon California’s working-class families,” according to his website.
Among Fazio’s endorsements are the California Small Business Association, National Federation of Independent Business, Los Angeles Police Protective League and more.
“I don’t take anything for granted,” Fazio said about winning the nomination. “I’m making sure that I’m hitting all of the areas in a very large and diverse district … I will continue to do what I do, and the voters will do what they do.”
He said that one of the biggest challenges for the November election will be Republican voter turnout because California is a predominantly Democratic state and the District 27 is a predominantly Democratic district.
Stern shared that his biggest challenge is that there is so little time to meet voters in the district.
“My primary campaign was powered by local leaders, and that’s how we overcame powerful outside special interest,” he wrote. “But we’ve built such a strong local coalition that we’re ready to roll, and in fact we are already rolling and growing the coalition.”
Presidential nominees
Throughout the State of California, with 100 percent of precincts reporting as of Tuesday, June 14, Hillary Clinton won the Democratic presidential nomination with 2,211,572 votes (55.5 percent), compared to Bernie Sanders’ 1,734,975 votes (43.6 percent).
In the County of Los Angeles, Clinton had 615,014 votes (57.11 percent) and Sanders had 450,773 (41.86 percent). In Malibu, 1,150 votes were cast for Clinton and 810 for Sanders.
Clinton, who has been endorsed by President Obama, will face Republican nominee Donald Trump in the upcoming November election.
