By STEVEN HERBERT | City News Service

LOS ANGELES >> Tuesday, May 18 is the deadline to vote in the special election for the 54th Assembly District, with five Democrats and a Socialist Workers Party candidate seeking to succeed Sydney Kamlager.

Voting centers will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. and drop boxes will be open until 8 p.m. If no candidate obtains a majority in Tuesday’s election, a second round will take place on July 20 among the top two.

The 54th Assembly District includes Baldwin Hills, Cheviot Hills, Crenshaw District, Century City, Culver City, Ladera Heights, Mar Vista, Palms, Rancho Park, Westwood, and parts of southern Los Angeles and Inglewood.

The estate includes Isaac Bryan, an educator and community organizer who has advised Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Kamlager, the winner of the March 2 special election in the 30th Senate District, on youth development and strategies for reduce the number of homeless people. .

Bryan co-chaired the campaign on behalf of Measure J, with the charter amendment approved by voters in November requiring at least 10% of Los Angeles County’s unrestricted general funds to be spent on housing, treatment of mental health, prison diversion programs and other incarceration alternatives.

“Passing the J measure was a real victory for Los Angeles, and for me, but the morning after our victory, I learned that one of my siblings had been arrested and charged in San Diego for actions which are now treated with a public health approach here. in Los Angeles, ”said Bryan, the founding director of the UCLA Black Policy Project. “That’s when I realized I had to run for the State Assembly. The 54th Assembly District has the potential to rule the entire state of California. “

Heather Hutt, then-Sen former Director of State. Kamala Harris, said she was running to “put my activism, strong community ties and years of public service at the forefront of change statewide.”

Hutt said the three main issues she would fight for in the assembly are health care and welfare, education and equity, including the fight “for justice in our communities, especially when it comes to the health and well-being of our families and children, ”added a teacher. pay “to attract the best and the brightest for our children,” provide “safe spaces for our children after school” and work “to ensure that every Californian is treated with dignity.”

Dallas Fowler, a businesswoman and nonprofit executive, said she was leading “because my community just can’t afford to go back to business as usual.”

“We are fighting against the privatization of air, water, education, health care and housing and it is imperative that we send qualified representation with service experience to the district with the political will to ‘Bring more housing and stop drilling in our communities,’ Fowler told City News Service.

Fowler pledged if he was elected to bring “5,000 units of sustainable affordable housing and 1,000 bed dorms with storage for our homeless residents in the district while protecting single family communities” and “working to fund 500 000 flourishing green salary careers to change our ecology and improve our quality and reliability of air and water. “

Cheryl C. Turner said she was “pressured to run for office when I watched the peaceful protests of the George Floyd and Derek Chauvin incident by people of all faiths and colors seeking to reforming the criminal justice system; by my desire to revitalize the economy affected by the economic shutdown of COVID-19; by the cry of the residents of this community in search of affordable housing; by the need to find solutions to house the homeless; because of the need for affordable health care and environmental protection; and because I want to help tenants and landlords avoid evictions and foreclosures by working to create viable rent and mortgage assistance programs that will provide housing for everyone. “

Turner, trial attorney and transactional attorney, chairman of the board of directors of the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles and member of the board of professional nurses and psychiatric technicians, was fourth in the field of seven in the 30th election Special District Senate, receiving 5.4% of the vote.

Bernard Senter, an employee of the retail grocery store, will appear on the ballot as a candidate without party preference, as there are not enough voters registered as members of the Socialist Workers‘ Party for him to be qualified as an official party.

Senter said the party “is using the campaign to spread solidarity wherever workers defend themselves from bosses and government assaults on our working conditions, wages and jobs.” He called the Socialist Workers Party a “break between the working class and the Democrats and Republicans“.

Also on the ballot is Samuel Robert Morales, financial adviser and entrepreneur, who did not respond to an email from City News Service.