Area voters to decide new State Senator on Tuesday

On Tuesday, March 26, 2019, voters will be selecting their new District 1 State Senator, a vacancy created when Ted Gaines won a seat on the state Board of Equalization in November.

District 1 spans California’s northeastern corner from the Oregon border to Lake Tahoe, including some of the Sacramento area’s eastern suburbs. Residents living in Alpine, El Dorado, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, and Siskiyou Counties are in District 1 as well as parts of Placer County (Auburn, Colfax, Lincoln, Loomis, and Rocklin) and Sacramento County (Folsom, Orangevale, and Fair Oaks).

A Republican has held this Senate seat for 40 years. Candidate Brian Dahle has caused some controversy with his campaign mailer, telling voters to vote for a candidate who has dropped out of the race if a Democrat, and vote for him if a Republican. Another one of his mailers attacked Candidate Kevin Riley with what Riley says are lies.

The candidates:

Silke Pflueger is the lone Democratic candidate for the office and she lives in Truckee. She is an engineer who earned her M.S. in electrical engineering in 1989 and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering in 1994. Pflueger is affiliated with the Laser Institute of America BoD and Fraunhofer Institute of Laser Technology. She is an immigrant, a breast cancer survivor, and a leader who she decided to quit her desk job a few years ago and work for people and our country. She is a co-founder and co-chair of Tahoe Truckee Indivisible where she has led and organized residents to march, attend protests and canvass for candidates seeking office.

Brian Dahle is a Republican candidate for the office. He is a Republican member of the California State Assembly, representing District 1 a position he has held since 2012. Dahle's professional experience includes working as the Lassen County supervisor since 1996 and operating a seed mill and managing 2,000 acres of farmland inherited from his grandfather. Prior to his work as a county supervisor, he worked for biomass and hydroelectric power companies and a gold-mining firm.

Theodore Dziuba is a Republican candidate who lives in Placerville where he was appointed to the Planning Commission for the City of Placerville in 2018. He said he is running for State Senate to stop illegal immigration, protect gun rights, opposes any new taxes and spending, and promises to work to get more Republicans elected to stop Democrats.

Rex Hime is also Republican candidate who claims to have dedicated his career to fighting tax increases and limiting the burden of government on small business and families in California. Says he is the only candidate who is not a career politician. He served as President Ronald Reagan’s appointee on the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and a member of the California Task Force on Violence Prevention appointed by then-Attorney General Dan Lungren. Most recently served as a Regent of the University of California.

Kevin Kiley is also a Republican candidate. He is currently a member of the California State Assembly, representing District 6. Kiley was elected to the office on November 8, 2016. Last week he created a bill that has yet to be presented to the Assembly, requiring religious tests for public office. He graduated from Harvard and became a high school English teacher, then went to Yale Law School as is a former deputy attorney general.

Former candidate Steven Baird is still listed on the ballot as a Democratic candidate though he pulled out in February.

If no special primary candidate wins a majority of the vote, a special general election will be held June 4.

California uses a “top-two” system, meaning the two candidates who get the most votes, regardless of their partisan affiliations, advance to the general election.

But if a candidate in a special primary election for a legislative or congressional office receives more than 50 percent of the vote, that person is declared the winner and a special general election is not held.

To vote in South Lake Tahoe and Meyers: Those who have not mailed in their absentee ballots may drop them off at their polling place: South Shore Christian Assembly, 886 Glorene Ave; Ca Conservation Corps at 1949 Apache Ave.; Lake Tahoe Christian Fellowship located at 3580 Blackwood Rd; or the the Recorder’s Office in South Lake Tahoe and the corner of Lake Tahoe Boulevard and Takela Ave. If unsure of where you are voting, visit the County's election site at https://edcgov.us/Government/Elections/Pages/VoterGuide.aspx. Voters can still register at the Recorder’s Office in South Lake Tahoe.