Congressional Election in 11 Days
It’s still a year and a half until the regular congressional elections, but eleven days from now there will be a special election in California, to select the replacement for Hilda Solis, the U.S. Representative for the 32nd district. Solis resigned in February to become the Secretary of Labor in the Obama Administration.
You could call this special election a battle of the Chus, except that there’s an Agrella in the mix too. Democrat Judy Chu is competing against Republican Betty Chu and Libertarian Chris Agrella. To be honest, it doesn’t look like much of a contest. Betty Chu’s web site is still half formed, with no explicit issue statements, and a section of news that still reads only “coming soon…” Chris Agrella seems to be having fun with his campaign, but the Libertarian Party doesn’t bring in a majority vote in the district.
Agrella’s voice is unique and energetic, but a little bit off kilter. He promises to “bring an honesty back to Washington”, suggesting that his honesty will only be a certain version of the truth, and uses the phrase “freedom is popular” as his campaign motto, hinting that he understands that his campaign falls short of freedom’s social acceptance.
Betty Chu seems merely to promote her professional experience, which is considerable, but fails to connect to voter interests. The only public issue that Betty Chu mentions is the economy, and that’s only in passing.
Judy Chu, on the other hand, seems to be running a focused, comprehensive campaign. She offers complete and coherent policy statements on the environment, the economy, education, transportation and health care. Chu doesn’t offer any innovative proposals, staying within the safe territory of standard Democratic ideas. Yet, with the support of the Democratic Party institution in her district, Judy Chu is nearly certain to become the newest member of the House of Representatives.
