Braly Seeks GOP Candidacy in Assembly Race : Politics: An aide to state Sen. Davis hopes to run in the proposed 36th District. He failed in ’90 bid against Wright.

Hunt Braly, longtime aide to state Sen. Ed Davis (R-Santa Clarita), said Wednesday that he will campaign for the Republican nomination in a proposed new Assembly district encompassing the Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys.

Braly, 36, spent about $250,000 in a bitter 1990 primary-election battle against veteran GOP Assemblywoman Cathie Wright of Simi Valley. Wright, who spent about $450,000, defeated Braly by a 3-2 margin in the race, one of the few hotly contested primaries in California that year.

Braly joins at least four other declared or potential Republican candidates for the new 36th Assembly District, a geographically huge region that includes most of Los Angeles County north of San Fernando.

It is unclear what office Wright will seek, but she is not expected to enter the 36th District race.

The new district was proposed by a panel of special masters appointed by the Supreme Court, which is in the process of overhauling California’s congressional and legislative districts to reflect population changes documented in the 1990 U.S. census. The court is expected to approve final maps by Tuesday.

Whoever wins the GOP nomination in June is likely to win the November runoff election in the 36th District, where 56% of registered voters are Republicans and 34% are Democrats.

The only other Republican to formally announce his candidacy is Santa Clarita slow-growth activist John Drew. Those mentioned as possible contenders are Palmdale Mayor William J. (Pete) Knight, Palmdale School District Supt. Forrest McElroy and Tom Smith, an aide to Assemblyman Phillip Wyman (R-Tehachapi), who now represents Antelope Valley portions of the new district. Wyman has announced plans to give up his seat to run for Congress.

The only Democrat mentioned as a possible candidate is Lancaster City Councilman Arnie Rodio.

Braly, who has worked for Davis since 1983, said he decided to undertake the race because “quite honestly, people were calling and saying, ‘Why don’t you do this?’ The support was clearly there.”

Braly said he plans to send out mailers next week to about 650 people who gave him money during his 1990 campaign. He added that he has Davis’ endorsement and that he is forming a campaign committee.

Braly said the main campaign issues in the 36th District race will be reviving the poor economy and dealing with rapid growth that has resulted in inadequate roads, schools and other public facilities in the two valleys.

Braly and Wright fought a bare-knuckles campaign in which Braly repeatedly attacked the incumbent for her efforts to intervene with local police and judges on behalf of her daughter, who faced jail or loss of her driver’s license after receiving two dozen speeding tickets.

But Braly later was forced to defend himself against a Wright supporter’s allegation that he supported the legalization of marijuana in 1980 when he headed a college GOP group. Braly denied that.