With the untimely and unfortunate passing of Congress Member Juanita Millender-McDonald, California faces the prospect of another series of special elections this summer. Already this spring newly elected Assembly Member Richard Alarcón, who had just left the Senate for a seat in the Assembly, opted to replace his replacement in the Senate, Alex Padilla, and returned to the Los Angeles City Council. Five candidates have opted to run to replace Mr. Alarcón, including Felipe Fuentes, who had previously served as Senator Alex Padilla's chief of staff. Should Mr. Fuentes, considered the front-runner, win with 50 percent of the vote on May 15, then the legislature will have its full membership of 120 again.

The open congressional seat created by the death of the Honorable Millender-McDonald, will be the subject of another special election held this summer to replace her. This has the potential of affecting Sacramento as two members of the Legislature who have declared their candidacy seek to replace her.

So far, a total of ten candidates have announced their intentions to run for the late Congress Member’s seat, including the former Congress Members daughter, Valerie McDonald. In addition, the slate includes newly elected Assembly Member Laura Richardson, and newly elected State Senator Jenny Oropeza. While the district is strongly democratic, it has been changing from an African-American seat to a more Latino district.

While this change potentially provides a boost to Ms. Oropeza, a larger portion of the Congressional District falls in Ms. Richardson’s current Assembly district.

Ms. Richardson who is African-American may also benefit from the help of the Congressional Black Caucus who would like to continue to have this district represented by a member of their community.

The special election will be held June 26, and if no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote, the two top candidates would run against each other on August 21. Should either Ms. Richardson or Ms. Oropeza win then the State would need to run yet another special election to fill the newly created vacancy.