Democrat Ted Lieu Elected to California State Assembly

Special Election gives Democrats a 48-32 edge over Republicans.

Torrance City Councilmember Ted Lieu has won election to California's 53rd Assembly District with 59 percent of the votes cast in yesterday's balloting. The election was called after Democratic incumbent Mike Gordon died June 25th due to complications from a brain tumor.

Three Republicans were defeated, including Dr. Mary Jo Ford, Torrance City Councilmember Paul Nowatka, and high school teacher Paul Whitehead.

Lieu was elected to the Torrance City Council in 2002, following his service on the City’s Environmental Quality & Energy Conservation Commission. As both councilmember and commissioner, he worked on issues that he plans to continue as an Assemblymember – education, public safety, the environment and transportation. He holds the rank of Major in the United States Air Force Reserves and he served on active duty for four years as a member of the JAG Corps.

With 100% of the precincts reporting, Lieu received 24,119 (59%) votes, followed by Ford with 7,733 (19%) votes. Although there were three Republicans vying for the seat, their accumulated totals fell below the 50% mark. Had no candidate earned more than half of the votes, a runoff election would have been held on November 8th.