Los Alamitos Councilman Troy Edgar has spent more than any other candidate, in his campaign for the 72nd Assembly District, making him the leader in a croweded race for that seat. However Edgar got slammed this week by a very effective late mailer sent by his main Republican opponent, Travis Allen. The only question is whether or not the mailer was sent too late to matter.
Edgar, a former Democrat, apparently has a horrible record of voting for tax increases, while on the Los Alamitos City Council. The mailer also compares Edgar to California Governor Jerry Brown, as they both have refused to sign a pledge to never increase taxes. Ouch!
The difficulty for Allen is that Edgar has racked up dozens of endorsements, from elected Republicans who have overlooked his record, and the GOP vote is being split three ways, as Orange County Board of Education Trustee Long Pham is also in the mix – and he too has blow a lot of money.
These candidates are running in the Open Primary and as such they are also vying with former independent Joe Dovinh, a Garden Grove Planning Commissioner who is now a Democrat; and tea party Democrat Albert Ayala, who is very, very old.
Allen has never run for office before, and he got caught giving campaign donations to Democrats. Pham and Dovinh don’t figure to get many votes outside of their own community, although Dovinh might do better in that regard as the leading Democrat in the race. It is hard to imagine that Ayala will get many votes at all.