Huntington Beach Councilmember Tony Strickland has announced he will run for the soon-to-be vacant 36th Senate District seat, hoping to return to the state legislature where he previously spent 10 years and potentially opening a vacancy on the City Council.
Strickland, a Republican, said he wants to be a counterweight to the “out of touch” policies of Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Democratic legislature’s supermajority. Inflation and higher energy costs are top issues, he said, which has fueled people to leave California for other lower-cost-living states.
“People are now deciding between a gallon of milk and a gallon of gas,” Strickland said. “They need someone with a strong voice up there to push back on some of the things that are out of touch, there’s just no other way to put it.”
Strickland said the decision by the state to continue to increase the gas tax is a burden that falls disproportionately on working families and the people living paycheck to paycheck.
“Every dollar the legislature spends takes it away from a hardworking family in California,” Strickland said.
The 36th Senate District’s current office holder is Sen. Janet Nguyen, who is set to vacate her seat after winning her race to become the supervisor for the Orange County First District in the November election, according to unofficial results.
Strickland said the special election for the Senate seat could be called sometime in March or April, depending on when Nguyen takes office.
Strickland cited his work on the council to close a $7 million budget deficit in the city budget, hire more police officers and reduce homelessness in Huntington Beach as what he brands as “Surf City common sense” needed in Sacramento.
Strickland served as an assemblymember from 1998 to 2004 and as a state senator from 2008 to 2012. At the time he was representing areas of Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.
Strickland added that there is a need for someone to be a watchdog on waste at the state level and cited his ability to co-author bills with others such as now-U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla when they were both in the state Senate.
Strickland said if he wins, he assumes the remaining 6-0 conservative majority that has been voted onto the Huntington Beach dais with the November election would be able to agree on who to appoint as his replacement.
The Republican Party of Orange County endorsed Strickland this week citing his work to get a 7-0 Republican City Council majority in Huntington Beach and his fights with the state on voter ID and local control.
The 36th Senate District extends from San Clemente in the south along the OC coast to a small portion of LA County. It includes the cities of Dana Point, Laguna Beach, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley, Seal Beach, Westminster, Stanton, Garden Grove, Los Alamiots, Cypress, Cerritos and Artesia.