Monique Limón and Gary Michaels secured the top two positions in the race for the state Senate’s 19th District seat during the primary election on March 3, according to unofficial election results.
In a field of three candidates vying for the seat being vacated by state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, Limón and Michaels captured 55.51 percent and 39.14 percent of the vote, respectively, and will next face off in November’s general election to determine the District 19 California state senator.
Limón, a Democrat, came out on top with 71,875 total votes in an area encompassing all of Santa Barbara County and a little more than 60 percent of Ventura County, although there are still ballots left to count in both counties. Limón is currently serving her second term as the state’s 37th District Assembly member.
“I really wanted to make sure that the decision [to run for state Senate] was about what would be in the best interest of the district,” Limón told the Sun the morning after the primary. “The Senate seat [represents] about a million people. I thought that it would be most advantageous for the district to have someone that understood how the Legislature worked, that had a track record to get some things done, but also that understood our district.”
Limón told the Sun that she is prepared to set her own interests aside to do what’s best for her district.
“What I learned with the natural disasters—with the debris flow and the Thomas Fire—is that we may have our own priorities, but any representative has to be ready to respond to the needs of the district,” Limón said.
Michaels followed Limón in second place with 50,679 votes, according to preliminary results. The Republican candidate, who’s the only Santa Maria resident in the race, told the Sun that he decided to run because, “We don’t get any attention here.”
Michaels said he hopes to address issues close to his home, including the poverty rates that Santa Maria faces and the housing crisis.
“Santa Barbara and Santa Maria are in the same Senate district, and yet they’re totally different places,” Michaels said. “That means you have to cater your solutions to these communities.”
Anastasia Stone came in third. With California’s top-two primary rules, Stone won’t make the November ballot.
This article appears in Mar 5-12, 2020.