California holds a special election for the vacant 51st district State Senate in Los Angeles County on March 24. Six Democrats, one Peace & Freedom Party member, and one Republican are running. Since two of the Democrats are incumbent Assemblymembers, it is extremely likely that no one will get 50% of the vote. In that case, there will be a run-off on May 19 between the Peace and Freedom nominee, Cindy Henderson, and the Democrat who gets the most votes in March, and the lone Republican. The district is overwhelmingly Democratic. The seat is vacant because Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas resigned to become a Los Angeles County Supervisor.
The special election is in the 26th State Senate District, not the 51st. The 51st is the Assembly District held by one of the Democrats running for the seat; another Democratic candidate is the incumbent in the 48th Assembly District, so there are likely to be more special elections coming up in the area (unless the lead Democrat in the primary somehow screws up so badly that he loses to Cindy Henderson or the Republican, as happened some years ago when Elihu Harris’ gaffes allowed Audie Bock to briefly be the lone Green in the Assembly).