Updated: Hudson Bid For State Assembly Relies On Issue Campaigning

Updated Jan. 24, in bold, below:

Punch in 11^th Assembly District on Google and chances are you’ll see Suisun City Vice Mayor Mike Hudson’s campaign website or campaign Facebook site listed in the top results.

This is by design, as Hudson has already assembled much of his campaign staff, including Rodney Stanhope and Michelle P. Kilmer-Connor, Republican campaign strategists.

Hudson is campaigning on a pledge to reduce California’s regulatory burden on businesses, balance the state budget, protect the district’s water supplies and bring a local government official’s common sense to the state Legislature.

Hudson is challenging, so far, four other candidates for an open seat on the newly-re-mapped assembly district, including former Vacaville mayor Len Augustine and Oakley City Councilman Jim Frazier.

Yet Hudson’s biggest challenge may be trying to convince the largely Democratic district to elect a Republican, and gain more name recognition in both Solano and Contra Costa Counties.

According to Hudson’s campaign prospectus, Democrats comprise 48 percent of voters in the district, while Republicans number 28 percent. Independents, otherwise known as “decline to state,” comprise 19 percent.

In an interview, Hudson said he wouldn’t run with an “R” next to his name on the ballot, although he would have the Republican Party endorsement.

According to Prop. 14, approved in 2010, in the primary election voters can pick any candidate for a congressional or state elective office "without regard to the political party affiliations of either the candidate or the voter. Candidates can choose whether or not to have their political party affiliation displayed on the ballot," according to Ballotpedia.

It’s part of a strategy to get voters to judge Hudson on his issue positions, rather than knee-jerk party voting. Although much of the district is Republican, it has leaned conservative on certain statewide issues, like voting against the legalization of marijuana and voting for Prop. 8, which blocked gays and lesbians from marrying.

In his campaign prospectus, Hudson said he has won a council seat twice in Suisun City, which has the lowest number of Republican voters of any district city (50 percent Democrats to 20 percent Republicans). It does not mention that city elections are not partisan contests.

“The majority of voters are in Solano County, my home county,” the prospectus reads. “I am well-known and liked among Solano County voters.”

The new district frees Solano County form the domination of politically-active Davis, and gives it a population advantage over non-Solano County towns in the district located in northeastern Contra Costa County, encompassing Antioch (pop. 102,700), Oakley (pop. 36,500), Brentwood (pop. 54,600) and Discovery Bay (pop. 13,400) among other towns. Compare that to Suisun City (pop. 28,200), Fairfield (pop. 105,700), Rio Vista (pop. 8,000) and Vacaville (99,500).

To break it all down, that’s about 241,400 people on the Solano side, versus 207,200 people on the Contra Costa side.