Betsy Butler to Run for 50th District

Assemblywoman Betsy Butler (D-Marina del Rey) has entered the race for California's 50th Assembly District seat, she told multiple media outlets late last week.

Butler, a Democrat, currently represents the 53rd Assembly District  that includes Redondo Beach and most of the South Bay. She won the race for that seat in November; it was her first election. Now, Butler plans to move and is aspiring for the 50th Assembly District, a new district that will represent Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Malibu and West Hollywood.

Some of Butler's supporters in the South Bay had wanted her to run in the new 66th Assembly District, which stretches from El Segundo to the Palos Verdes Peninsula, against Tea Party candidate Nathan Mintz next year.

Venice resident and political organizer Marta Evry started if she ran against Mintz, who Butler beat back in November. Evry reasoned that a Butler victory against Mintz would help Democrats reach the two-thirds majority needed in the state Assembly to pass key legislation.

In the race for the 50th Assembly District, Butler's primary opponents appear to be Torie Osborn—a liberal activist backed by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl and Sheila Kuehl, among others—and Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom.

Butler, who has lived in Marina del Rey for 20 years, claims she already represents a percentage of the constituents in the new 50th Assembly District.

"I am considered the incumbent in the 50th District," she told The Argonaut.

Regardless, Butler says she will move north to run in the new district. It is unclear exactly which city she has in mind.

While Butler has spoken with the media about her plans to run for the AD50 seat, her Web site does not have any related announcements.