Assembly District 50 Results: Richard Bloom To Face Betsy Butler in November, Upsets Torie Osborn

Richard Bloom

In the hotly contested race for California Assembly District 50, Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom ran strong in a close, four-way battle that included Democratic Assemblywoman Betsy Butler, Democratic candidate Torie Osborn, and gay Republican Brad Torgan.

At 2:58 a.m., with 100 percent of the total vote counted, Bloom finished in second place with 25.6 percent, Butler came in first with 25.8 percent, and Osborn and Torgan finished with 24.2 percent and 24.2 percent, respectively. If nothing changes, Bloom and Butler, the top two winners, will face each other in November.

California Assembly District 50 is one of the wealthiest, most liberal political districts in the United States. Whoever wins the election in November will have a plum job that will come with great connections to deep-connected contributors.

Read the L.A. Weekly feature story, "Democratic War for L.A.'s Richest," for the inside scoop about this competitive, hard-charging race.

During the campaign, Osborn, who was considered a front runner, tried to paint herself as a battling outsider fighting Sacramento's political establishment in Assemblywoman Betsy Butler, who has the support of the California State Democratic Party and Assembly Speaker John Perez.

While Butler herself didn't engage in publicly trashing Osborn, her supporters were doing that job for her. The fighting between the two campaigns created tension and ill will among local Democrats in the 50th district.

Bloom, in the meantime, kept his head low, hoping voters would be turned off by the bickering and choose him. That strategy appeared to pay off for the underdog. Torgan, a longshot, was banking on a good turnout by Republicans. He finished surprisingly strong.

Contact Patrick Range McDonald at pmcdonald@laweekly.com.

Tags:

Betsy Butler, California Assembly District 50, Patrick Range McDonald, results, Richard Bloom, Torie Osborn

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JeffB

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dwm803JEsoQ&noredirect=1

ConsultantFeesAreTooDamnHigh!

The proverbial in-fighting that dominated this campaign between incumbent Betsy Butler and Torie Osborn was largely ignored by voters and responsble Democrats. In the end the most qualified candidate was victorious in Mayor Bloom. The "inside baseball" mentality of the Osborn effort cost them the election versus a more positive and optimistic message that would have easily resonated with the district's liberal electorate. The effort to show distinction between Osborn and Butler was minor if insignificant in the minds of the voting public, you wonder what was the point of it all? More importantly, what campaign picks a fight with leadership? What "wanna-be" legislator makes an enemy of the Speaker of the California Assembly in a Democratic Primary? Voters are smarter than the so-called "experts" who run these negative mail efforts.

Yuval Kremer

I don't think Torgan "finished surprisingly strong". 3 Democrats split their voters almost equally, and he STILL doesn't make the runoff. Wanna tell me the district is 75% Liberal 25% Conservative? These low-turnout primaries bring out a disproportionate amount of conservatives. Independents/Decline-to-States are leaning conservative because of Obama's unpopularity. Also, Richard Bloom had a major negative article written about him by this publication, re: his rush to spend Community Redevelopment (CRA) money on frills/luxuries before our Governor could grab that tax money for our schools and public safety. The two women were and their supporters were beating up on each other like pinatas. I didn't get one piece of mail from Torgan; didn't even know who he was. Even Bloom sent me a little mail at the end. If you're the only candidate from one of the 2 major parties in a race, you shouldn't be invisible. It really is inexcusable that he did that poorly...he shouldn't run for anything again.

Yuval Kremer

The LA Weekly article on Richard Bloom was called "Santa Monica Spends Earthquake Plum on Ritzy Projects" came out on March 22 and was written by Jorge Casuso. (you can read it by searching for it on this site)

Neal Payton

Interesting outcome in light of this paper's, article, "Democratic War for L.A.'s Richest," in which Mayor Bloom was barely mentioned. Seriously, was the political intrigue so tantalizing that the idea of actually providing a more complete picture of the race not on the radar screen? Do you think he came out of nowhere?

Yuval Kremer

He got lucky.