The Race Is On For Janice Hahn's Congressional Seat

Janice Hahn

As we predicted a couple months ago, progressive L.A. congresswoman, Janice Hahn, will not be running for reelection in 2016 but will run for the open seat on the L.A. County Board of Supervisors, a far more powerful position. She told the L.A. Times she would be able to get a lot more done on the Board of Supervisors than in Congress. "The problem is, Washington is broken. It's increasingly mired in political gridlock, and there's virtually zero cooperation between the two parties. That's not the kind of government I grew up with... I can do more for the Los Angeles region on the Board of Supervisors."

The California Democratic Establishment is maneuvering to make conservative, lobbyist-controlled Isadore Hall's nomination a fait accompli. And he's already tossed his hat into the ring, even though he just won his state Senate seat in a special election in November. All the worst elements of Southern California Democratic politics are lining up behind Hall, an African American career politician from Compton, despite his dreadful record in the Assembly-- and despite CA-44 having a 70.5% Latino population. Hahn, who is counting on Hall to help her win black votes in her supervisorial contest, endorsed Hall for her seat today. So far no well-known Latino candidates have come forward but Hispanic politicians must be wondering how serious Eric Bauman's Democratic Party Machine takes them if they're not going to help them with a 70% Hispanic district! The only other plausible candidate so far is City Councilman, Joe Buscaino, who presents San Pedro, the part of CA-44 with the most voters. Buscaino maybe be better than Hall but he hasn't exactly been a progressive icon that a D+32 district deserves. Obama won the district against Romney 155,459 (85%) to 24,995 (14%).

“He’s just taking a look at it,” Buscaino aide Branimir Kvartuc said Wednesday. “He’s been approached by supporters and by people who told him he should at least take a look at it.”

Weighing heavily as factors, Kvartuc said, are Buscaino’s young family and his work in the 15th Council District.

“He might be more serious if his kids weren’t as young, that’s probably going to be the deciding factor,” Kvartuc said. “It really comes down to a family decision and he’s doing so much work now in the 15th District that he doesn’t want to leave that early. That’s hugely important to him.”

His wife, Geralyn, is a Los Angeles Unified School District teacher.

But for now, Kvartuc said, “He’s going to keep his name in the hat.”

Buscaino replaced Hahn on the City Council when she was elected to finish out U.S. Rep. Jane Harman’s term.

Hahn was elected to the 36th Congressional District in July 2011 and then decided to run in the newly redrawn 44th District in 2012 when the 36th District was dismantled.

She was most recently re-elected in November 2014.

Buscaino, a former Los Angeles police officer, was a familiar face in the Harbor Area when he decided to run for the 15th District seat being vacated by Hahn. He was elected to fill out her term in January 2012 and was re-elected on March 5, 2013, to a full four-year term with 83.3 percent of the vote.

Because his term doesn’t end until 2017, he would be able to remain on the council during a run for the House next year.

Aside from San Pedro, CA-44 includes the communities of Carson, Compton, Willowbrook, Rancho Dominguez, South Gate, Lynwood, Downey, Bell, Vernon and Huntington Park. So who votes in CA-44? Here's a look by ethnic group:

• Latino- 151,014
• African-American- 85,166
• Asian (primarily Filipino)- 15,834
• Jewish- 1,290
• East Indian- 302
• Armenian- 146
• Persian- 109