San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Dawn Ortiz-Legg will run for election in District 3 this year — under her current boundaries, not the newly redrawn ones.
On Wednesday, Ortiz-Legg announced in a virtual news conference that she is officially running for the seat to which she was appointed in 2020 as a replacement for the late supervisor Adam Hill.
“I think that I’m really somebody that knows how to bring people to the table and to get them to ‘Yes,’” Ortiz-Legg said during the conference. “And ‘yes’ is what takes us forward. ‘Yes’ is what makes differences.”
During her time on the board, Ortiz-Legg said she has pushed to help working families and small businesses, and has been an advocate for environmental policies like carbon reduction and water security.
Ortiz-Legg notably has been one of the few local government leaders who voiced support for the push to keep Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant running, saying she would be open to more talks about delaying its impending closure.
“So you know whether it’s building a robust local economy, helping our our working families here, helping our educators, creating a healthier environment — these are the things that I want to do,” she said.
Ortiz-Legg said she feels she can be a candidate who will bring people together, rather than divide them.
“I think that in my district in particular, people want to see people working together,” she added. ”They want to see us get things done. And that’s what I hope to continue to do.”
Ortiz-Legg will run for election using the former District 3 map boundaries, which encompass parts of San Luis Obispo, Edna Valley, Avila Beach, Pismo Beach and Grover Beach.
In December, Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office advised the county that because Ortiz-Legg was appointed to her seat in 2020, the 2022 election for District 3 would constitute a special election, and should be conducted using the old district boundaries.
The county’s new map, which was approved in December, redrew District 3 into a small “dog bone” that stretches from Morro Bay into a large chunk of San Luis Obispo.
This means many South County residents who will vote on Ortiz-Legg during the special election in June will actually not be her constituents later on. They are instead part of District 5.
Meanwhile the upcoming elections for District 2 and District 4 will be held using the new map, because they are general elections.
WHO ELSE IS RUNNING IN DISTRICT 3 ELECTION?
The District 3 race already has one other contender, and she’s a familiar face.
Business owner Stacy Korsgaden filed paperwork to run for the seat in July 2021, according to the San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder’s website.
Korsgaden, an insurance agent, previously ran for District 3 in 2020 and lost to Hill. Korsgaden received about 48.6% percent of the vote, according to the County Clerk-Recorder’s final election tally.
Notably, Korsgaden — who ran as a self-described “moderate” — was in attendance at the Jan. 6 “Save America” rally in Washington, D.C., that took place ahead of the riot at the Capitol building. Korsgaden said she was “not ashamed of the fact that I went,” describing the rally as “peaceful and joyous.”
According to her campaign website, if elected, Korsgaden plans to address the growing unsheltered and homeless population in SLO County, promote job development, grow San Luis Obispo energy and agriculture industries and ensure greater financial accountability in local government.
No other people appear to have filed paperwork to run for the District 3 seat as of Wednesday, according to the clerk-recorder’s website, though the site is subject to processing lags.
Whoever wins, the newly elected supervisor’s term would conclude in 2024.
Read more at: https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/politics-government/election/article257740953.html#storylink=cpy