Brown adviser to seek open AD-16 in East Bay

by Brian Leubitz

Well, this is interesting news: Steve Glazer, Gov. Brown’s top campaign strategist and a long time local politician in Orinda, is looking to replace the termed out Joan Buchanan.

Gov. Jerry Brown’s political adviser, Steve Glazer, will run for a state Assembly seat in 2014, Glazer announced this morning. The Orinda councilman will seek election in the Democratic-leaning Assembly District 16, the East Bay district from which Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan, D-Alamo, will be termed out.

Glazer cast himself as a moderate in a prepared statement, criticizing a legislative process he said is captive to “the extremes of both political parties.” (SacBee)

Glazer just started his third term on the Orinda council, so he has the local connections that are often the key to the endorsements that make races in the low turnout June off-year elections.

The district is a fairly moderate district, so it hardly shocks to see him to go moderate. Brown, for his part, has been called the “most powerful conservative in Sacramento.” Glazer’s campaign would fit right in on both levels.

The top-2 format will treat such a “moderate” campaign well, and his name ID and connections to money should put him as a favorite to at least get in that top 2.  However, there are a long list of viable candidates for this district, so there is more to shake out before next June.