Politics

76th Assembly District Tests Effectiveness Of Top Two Primary

By Alison St John / Reporter

Published November 5, 2012 at 2:36 AM PST

This story was published more than 12 years ago.

Rocky Chavez, a candidate for state Assembly.

76th Assembly District Tests Effectiveness Of Top Two Primary

This November election will demonstrate whether the goal of the new "Top Two" primary system is met: sending less partisan candidates to Sacramento.

The 76th Assembly district in North County is a test case. The theory is that allowing voters to pick their top two candidates in the primary, regardless of party, could lead to a less extreme conservative or liberal ultimately being sent to serve in the state Assembly.

Candidates Rocky Chavez and Sherri Hodges are both Republicans. They came out top in the primary, and they are facing off tomorrow in the general election.

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Hodges, a long time chief of staff for state representatives and a former school board member who pushed to ban the book “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," got the Republican Party endorsement. But Chavez, a former Marine who proved to be a moderate during his term on the Oceanside City Council, got the endorsement of the pro-business Lincoln Club.

Sherri Hodges, a candidate for state Assembly.

Tony Manolatos, spokesman for the Lincoln Club, said the "Top Two" primary system gave the club more choice of whom to endorse.

"Before, the system was set up for one Republican, one Democrat," he said. "And that didn’t always lead to the best choices. Now I think what we’re seeing is the best candidates are surfacing, regardless of party affiliation."

What the voters decide tomorrow may reveal whether the "Top Two" primary system does actually lead to less acrimonious politics next year at the state capital.

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.