ANTELOPE VALLEY : Special Election to Fill Senate Seat
Gov. Pete Wilson has set March 2 for a special election to replace state Sen. Don Rogers (R-Bakersfield) in a district that includes portions of the Antelope Valley.
The winner of the contest in the 16th Senate District will serve out the two remaining years of Rogers’ term. He was elected in November to a new four-year term in the 17th Senate District following a court-ordered redrawing of Senate district boundaries.
The sprawling 16th District is centered in Kern County but about 15% of its population lives in a strip of northeastern Los Angeles County running from the Antelope Valley to Pasadena and Altadena.
Among the announced candidates are Assemblyman Jim Costa (D-Hanford), former Republican Assemblyman Phillip Wyman and Bakersfield City Councilman Kevin McDermott, also a Republican. Wyman gave up his Tehachapi seat in an unsuccessful bid for Congress in June.
If no candidate receives a 50%-plus-one majority of votes in March, a runoff election between the two top vote-getters will be held April 27, the governor said.
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