AD-15: Buchanan (D), Wilson (R) Vie for Open Seat
The stage is set for the last remaining Republican-held Bay Area seat in the state legislature. Republican San Ramon Mayor H. Abram Wilson will defend the 15th Assembly District seat of termed-out fellow Republican Guy Houston against Democrat Joan Buchanan, a longtime San Ramon school board trustee.
Houston is the only Republican representing the Bay Area in Sacramento. If Buchanan defeats Wilson in November, the region’s Capitol contingent would all Democrats.
Mayor Wilson pulled out the GOP nomination against former Livermore businessman Robert Rao by a slim 281-vote margin.
According to Tim Clark, a consultant for the vanquished Rao, Wilson won the primary almost solely on name recognition alone.
Despite of raising and spending the least amount of money among the four Republican candidates, Wilson won because of name recognition, Clark said.
“Abram began with a good $200,000 to $300,000 worth of name recognition,” Clark said. “People know who he is and people like him.”
The reason why Wilson was spent the least amount of money was because he sought re-election as mayor of San Ramon in an uncontested race and a local blogger/activist called it last September. No Democratic candidate was fielded against him, if only to bloody his nose a bit rather than lube the local political machine for his imminent run for the State Assembly. The positive name recognition enjoyed by Wilson, as evidenced in polling months before the Republican primary showed, carried him to the nomination.
It was a missed opportunity at building the Democratic bench in a moderate Republican area. Do not missed this opportunity: help Joan Buchanan take the last Republican Bay Area seat in the state legislature.
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