By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Marie Waldron has defeated Randy Voepel in the redrawn 75th Assembly district

November 9, 2022 (San Diego’s East County) – Redistricting pitted two incumbent Republican Assemblymembers against each other in the 75^th Assembly district.  Assemblyman Randy Voepel has been ousted by Assemblywoman Marie Waldron, the Assembly Republican leader and former Escondido councilmember. Waldron received 66.76% of the votes tallied so far, while Voepel drew just 33.24%.

A staunch conservative and pro-life legislator, she is a member of the Mental Health Caucus and has served on the Assembly Health Committee.  A former member of the San Diego County Opoid Task Force, she now serves on the Stanford 5-Year Initiative on Neuroscience, a group fostering communications between policymakers on mental health, addiction and opioid drugs. She was honored as legislator of the year by both the California Life Sciences Association and the California Chronic Care Coalition.

In the 40^th State Senate district, Senator Brian Jones, a Republican, leads by nearly 11 points over challenger Joseph Rocha, a Democrat and military veteran. Jones has long won his Senate and before that, Assembly races by large margins, but redistricting resulted in a nearly even party registration balance. Democrats had poured money into the race for TV ads and other campaign messaging, but were unable to defeat Jones, a former Santee Councilman and Chairman of the Assembly Republican Caucus.