A field of 23 candidates for the April 4 special election in the 34th Congressional District was certified Wednesday by Secretary of State Alex Padilla.
The field in the overwhelmingly Democratic district includes 19 Democrats and one candidate each from the Republican, Green and Libertarian parties. Mark Edward Padilla, who described himself as an immigration law administrator, did not specify a party preference.
The candidates include Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez and former Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education member Yolie Flores, both Democrats.
The special election was necessitated when Xavier Becerra was appointed as California’s attorney general, succeeding Democrat Kamala Harris after she was elected to the U.S. Senate.
The district approximately stretches from Koreatown in the west to the Long Beach (710) Freeway in the east and from the Santa Monica (10) Freeway in the south to the Ventura (134) Freeway in the north. It includes downtown Los Angeles, the Westlake district, Highland Park, Eagle Rock, Boyle Heights and Lincoln Heights.
If no candidate receives a majority on April 4, a runoff between the top two finishers will be held June 6. Because of the large field, no candidate is expected to receive a majority in the April 4 vote.
