Election 2010

The Lt-Gov Plot Thickens: Denham Drops Out

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It’s not every day that the exodus from the legislature gets reversed. Jeff Denham, who went straight into the State Senate from SD-12 in 2002 without serving in the Assembly (Denham lost to Símon Salinas in a 2000 Assembly race), has announced that he will drop out of the Lieutenant Governor’s race and run to replace Tom Berryhill in AD-25:

Denham met in the past two days with Gov. Schwarzenegger, other GOP leaders and his family before reaching his decision to run for Berryhill’s Assembly District 25. It will require him to move out of Merced County and into Stanislaus County.

He said running for the Assembly seat will give him a chance to become a key leader in the Legislature after serving two terms in the Senate.

Obviously Arnold and the Republican power elite are trying to grease the skids for Maldonado to become the next Lt. Gov., and have succeeded in pushing Denham – who has no love lost for Maldonado – to run for the Assembly. And Denham’s even going to move to Modesto (he currently lives near Merced) to make this happen.

To top it off, Denham isn’t going to have AD-25 handed to him on a platter:

He faces Modesto City Councilwoman Janice Keating, who announced this week that she intends to run for Berryhill’s seat. Keating is a solid fund-raiser in her own right, having assembled six-figure war chests for a 2006 race for a Stanislaus County supervisor’s seat and to help pass a local government reform measure in 2008.

Of course, Keating may well decide to drop out instead of facing Denham. But it does show that the California GOP is making a priority out of the Lt. Gov. race.

That shouldn’t be cause for Democrats to circle the wagons on the Maldonado appointment. Either Dean Florez or Janice Hahn should be able to beat him, and we should not be afraid to make that case – especially when 2/3rds in the Senate is on the line.

UPDATE by Brian: I just want to also toss in here that Abel still has another challenger in the LG race: Sam Aanestad. At this point, it seems unlikely that Aanestad will drop out. So, Denham dropping out might help Maldonado, but it also helps Aanestad, should he choose to remain in the race. He can now suck up all the right-wing base love in the race. If he can get his name ID up a little bit, this could be a dogfight.

One thought on “The Lt-Gov Plot Thickens: Denham Drops Out”

  1. Even if Maldonado was to be confirmed, Denham would have been the front-runner in the Rep primary for Lt. Gov.  Denham can raise money and Republican voters in California as a voting block are notorioulsy anti-Latino.  Maldonado would have a tough time securing the nomination against Denham.  

    Aanestad, on the other hand, is more of a lightweight and will not likely be able to raise money to run a serious campaign.

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