18 Candidates Vying for 36th Congressional District Seat

Six Republicans, five Democrats, one Libertarian, one Peace and Freedom and five candidates who stated no party preference met the Friday deadline to appear on the May 17 special election ballot to fill a vacant seat in Congress, a spokesman with the Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk's office said.

The candidates are vying to represent the 36th Congressional District that includes Marina del Rey, Venice, Mar Vista, Playa del Rey, Del Rey, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach and other surrounding communities. The seat became vacant after Rep. Jane Harman (D-Venice) announced in February that she was leaving office to join a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

The candidates who are set to run include the following:

DEMOCRATS

• Daniel H. Adler. New media entrepreneur in Marina del Rey.

• Debra Bowen. California Secretary of State.

• Loraine Goodwin. Physician, teacher, arbitrator of Madera.

• Janice Hahn. Los Angeles City Councilwoman.

• Marcy Winograd. High school teacher and anti-war activist.

REPUBLICANS

• Patrick "Kit" Bobko. Hermosa Beach City Councilman.

• Stephen Eisele. Businessman and aerospace entrepreneur.

• Mike Gin. Redondo Beach Mayor.

• Craig Huey. Small business owner.

• George Newberry. Real estate agent and retired military.

• Mike Webb. Redondo Beach City Attorney.

LIBERTARIAN

• Steve Collett. Certified public accountant.

PEACE and FREEDOM

• Maria E. Montano. Public school teacher.

NO PARTY PREFERENCE

• Matthew Roozee. Business executive, mathematician.

• Michael T. Chamness. Non-profit consultant.

• Katherine Pilot. Longshore office clerk.

• Al Salehi. Entrepreneur.

• James L. Thompson. Retired.

The list of candidates is tentative until the signatures gathered in lieu of filing fees for some candidates' nominating papers can be verified, a spokeswoman with the county clerk's office said.

Democrats have a distinct advantage in the 36th Congressional District, with 45.3 percent of the 347,812 registered voters identifying themselves as Democrats. Republicans trail with 27.5 of the electorate, while 22.3 percent of voters decline to state a party, according to information from the California Secretary of State's Office.

The election should be the first real application of the state's new "top two" election system that went into effect Jan. 1 after voters endorsed the changes in June 2010 when they passed Proposition 14. Under the new rules, if no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote in the May 17 primary, then the top two finishers will face each other in a July 12 special general election, even if they are from the same party.

Under the provisions of Proposition 14, the state also recognizes only six official political parties: Democratic, Republican, American Independent, Green, Libertarian and Peace and Freedom. Chamness has filed a lawsuit against Bowen to stop implementation of the new rules because he must state that he has "no party preference," even though he is affiliated with the so-called Coffee Party, a 2-year-old political group that started out on Facebook.