This year's crop of legislative newbies - 11 Republicans and 17 Democrats in all - comes from a wide range of backgrounds.

We have one sitting state Senator, one former Assemblyman and one former Senate Republican Leader. We have real estate brokers and business people, teachers and city council members. There is the Godfather of Asian politics, and a mother of five from San Ramon.

 

We have provided a brief introduction to the newly-electeds as they head to Sacramento to be sworn in on Dec. 1. While we did not include profiles of the two lawmakers who have served most recently - Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch, and Wes Chesbro, D-Arcata - we included a profile of Jim Nielsen, R-Gerber, the former Senate Republican Leader who is returning to the Assembly after 18 years out of legislative office.

 

Assembly District 2

Jim Nielsen, R-Gerber

Jim Nielsen is one of three members of this year's freshman class coming to the Assembly after serving in the state Senate. So, technically, Nielsen does not meet our definition of a "true legislative freshman." But since his legislative career ended before incoming Assemblymen Wes Chesbro or Tom Torlakson's legislative careers even began, we figured he was worthy of some reintroduction.

 

Nielsen ran touting himself as an "advocate for farmers, property owners, crime victims and taxpayers," but denounced the partisanship that marks today's Sacramento. He was elected to the state Senate as a Prop. 13 baby in 1978, and ascended to the job of Republican Leader in 1983 at the age to 34 - the youngest to ever hold the position.

 

But his career was not without controversy. He was dogged by residency questions, and by controversial statements he made implying AIDS "may be God's way" of punishing gay people. He lost his seat to Democrat Mike Thompson in 1990 in one of that year's closest election battles.

 

There was no such drama this time, as Nielsen coasted to victory both in the primary, and the general election Now, as Nielsen returns to the Capitol to replace outgoing Assemblyman Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale, he will be tasked with helping guide the state out of an impressive budget hole. Since leaving the Capitol, Nielsen has served on the board of Parole and Prison Terms, and was part of the eminent domain fight as head of the California Alliance to Protect Private Property Rights.

 

Assembly District 3

Dan Logue, R-Linda

Anyone who things Yuba County Supervisor Dan Logue may be a vote for raising taxes in Sacramento probably wasn't paying very close attention this election cycle. Logue said during the campaign that "he'd rather have gridlock than vote for a new tax," according to one local paper. Logue is a loyal conservative who made cracking down on immigration the focal point of his Assembly campaign.

 

Logue, who is a realtor, survived one of this spring's closest primary contests, besting Nevada County Supervisor Sue Horne, in a battle of well-funded conservative candidates. Logue benefited from independent expenditure money from medical groups, including the California Dental Association, California Medical Association and PhRMA.

 

The race also served as a proxy preview of the 2010 Senate race. Outgoing Assemblyman Rick Keene, R-Chico, backed Logue in the primary, while Doug LaMalfa, R-TK, backed Horne.

 

Assembly District 8

Mariko Yamada, D-Davis

The race for the 8^th Assembly District was one of the most expensive Assembly primaries in California history. The victory of Yolo County Supervisor Mariko Yamada over West Sacramento Mayor Christopher Cabaldon was a victory for organized labor, who carried Yamada over the finish line in a tough, million-dollar campaign.

 

In the end, the million dollar race may have been decided by a couple of parking tickets that Cabaldon received during the campaign that had not been paid. That seemed to be the opening labor needed to seize upon Cabaldon as out of touch with his district.

 

Yamada, who was originally appointed to the Yolo County Board of Supervisors in 2003 by Gov. Gray Davis, is trained as a social worker. She has bounced around state and national government, working for a Los Angeles County Supervisor and for more than a decade in Washington D.C. with the U.S. Commerce Department.

 

Yamada cites "improvements to in-home supportive services, emergency medical care, housing, transportation, and integrated services for adults, the elderly, and persons with disabilities," as her top legislative priorities - all groups that could face future budget cuts under new proposals under consideration by the Legislature.

 

Assembly District 10

Alyson Huber, D-El Dorado Hills

Until Tuesday evening Democrat Alyson Huber trailed former San Joaquin Supervisor Jack Sieglock in this race by less than 1,000 votes. But when the final provisional and absentee ballots were counted, Huber eked out a narrow victory - about 500 votes - and gave Democrats their 51st seat in the new Assembly.

 

This may be one race where Barack Obama's strong California showing did tip the balance. But the race also became the top priority for Assembly Speaker Karen Bass in the closing days of the campaign. Democrats were confident that if they were ever going to pick up this seat, this was the right year and Huber was the right candidate. She has been an advocate for foster children, an issue close to Bass's heart.

 

Huber's political narrative is a good one. She has roots in the district, born in Lodi, and overcame what she has called "family hardships as a child," (growing up in a trailer park, on food stamps) began attending classes at a local community college at night, as she worked in a local mall. Eventually, she graduated from Cornell and Hastings Law School.

 

She may also be the answer to a criticism we sometimes hear of our Assemblymembers, especially a few of the ones who speak on the floor often-that they could best a high school debater in an argument. Huber high school and college debate was Huber's ticket out of poverty, winning her scholarships. She parlayed this into a career as a corporate attorney. Despite the Sieglock campaign's attempts to paint her as a "San Francisco trial lawyer," most of her work involved businesses suing each other for breach of contract.

Assembly District 13

Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco

Not many legislative freshmen will arrive next week fresh from playing themselves in a cameo in a major Hollywood movie. Of course, Tom Ammiano has been in show business for years, starting a career as a stand-up comedian in 1980; he's sometimes called "The Mother of Gay Comedy." He'll also be one of the older freshmen to hit the legislature in awhile, with his 67^th birthday a few days after swearing in. Which gets back to the film, "Milk," about the pioneering gay politician Harvey Milk, who Ammiano knew in the political scene around San Francisco in the late 1970s.

 

 Ammiano, a former teacher himself, actually founded the No on 6 committee, the successful effort to defeat the Briggs Initiative to bar gay people from teaching in public schools, back in 1977.

 

Milk became famous as the public face of No on 6. Meanwhile, after Milk was assassinated in 1978, Ammiano was launched into what has proved to be a far longer political career. His first run at political office came in 1980, but he didn't manage to get elected until 1990, when he got a spot on the SF Board of Education. He joined the board of supervisors in 1994, and has served there ever since. But his most famous accomplishment may be forcing powerful incumbent mayor into a runoff in 1999 via a write-in campaign. Ammiano lost the runoff, but sparked a rise of liberal candidates of the SF Board of Supes that is only now on the wane.

In terms of his position, Ammiano is likely to vote much like his predecessor, Mark Leno.

 

His main issue is likely to be healthcare; he authored a landmark Health Care Security law in San Francisco in 2006. He also authored the city's first domestic partnership ordinance, and is likely to be a strong voice on transit and affordable housing.

 

Assembly District 14

Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley

It is perhaps a sign of the times that in many Sacramento circles, Nancy Skinner's chief of staff is better known than she is. Skinner announced that Frank Russo, who runs the liberal blog The California Progress Report, would head up the incoming Assemblywoman's legislative operations.

 

Berkeley has a reputation for electing reliably liberal members to the Legislature, and Skinner should be no different. She served on the Berkeley council with two people who have held the Assembly seat before - outgoing Assemblywoman Loni Hancock and her husband, former Assemblyman Tom Bates - both of whom backed Skinner in her four-way primary battle.

 

Skinner's legislative focus is likely to be on environmental issues. She is a member of the East Bay Regional Park District board, and is the director of The Climate Group, an environmental organized aimed at curbing global warming.

 

Assembly District 15

Joan Buchanan, D-San Ramon

No seat was more hotly contested this year than the seat being vacated by Assemblyman Guy Houston, R-San Ramon. But with Joan Buchanan's victory over Abram Wilson, the Republican Party lost its last seat that included any part of the San Francisco Bay Area.

 

Buchanan, a member of the San Ramon Unified School District, received support from the California Teachers Association and other education groups.

 

Buchanan also touted her ability to reach across party lines, securing the nomination of Stockton Mayor Ed Chavez, a Republican, and featuring Chavez's backing prominently in her campaign.

 

Buchanan raised more than $3.6 million for her race, much of that money coming from the state' Democratic Party. But she also invested more than $150,000 of her own money in the race.

 

Abram Wilson, the San Ramon Mayor who lost to Buchanan, has already announced that he will run again for the seat in 2010.

 

Assembly District 19

Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo

The race to replace Gene Mullin was one of the most closely-watched Democratic primaries of the year. The three-way battle featured Gina Papan, daughter of the late Assemblyman Lou Papan; consumer advocate Richard Holober and San Mateo County Supervisor Jerry Hill.

 

The race got nasty at times, with Hill's opponents trying to tar the supervisor for his defense of the county sheriff, after the sheriff was caught in a raid of a Las Vegas brothel. In the end, Hill held on with 37 percent of the vote, with just 3,000 votes separated the third-place finisher from the winner.

 

Hill was also hit for being a former Republican - a nearly unforgivable sin in this liberal San Mateo County district. But Hill insists is was only so he could vote for anti-war Republican Pete McCloskey in his presidential challenge to Richard Nixon.

 

But in the end, it was Hill's strong backing from environmental groups, including the Sierra Club and League of Conservation Voters, that helped distinguish his campaign. Hill joins newly elected Sen. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Contra Costa, as former member of the California Air Resources Board now sitting in the Legislature.

 

Worth noting - Hill was also backed early by potential Speaker candidate Fiona Ma, D-San Francisco.

 

Assembly District 22

Paul Fong, D-Sunnyvale

Community College Trustee Paul Fong's election underscores the growing size and clout of the Legislature's Asian/Pacific Islander caucus. Fong won a contested, four-way primary this spring, with his strongest challenge coming from 32-year-old Santa Clara City Councilmember Dominic Caserta.

 

In his district, Fong, 55, is known as the Godfather of Silicon Valley Asian politics. A recent profile in the San Jose Mercury News cited Fong's mentorship of dozens of successful Asian candidates, helping them gain election to local school boards and city councils. He is the founder of the Silicon Valley Asian Pacific American Democratic Club, which Fong has likened to a special forces unit of the armed forces. Like commandos, Fong says the club descends into political fights on behalf of Asian candidates "to help out, or even rescue those" that seem to be failing."

 

Fong has voiced skepticism about Santa Clara's plan to build a new stadium for the 49ers, which may endear him to San Francisco lawmakers.

 

Assembly District 26

Bill Berryhill, R-Ceres

Democrats put this race on their target list this year, holding out hope that a sweeping Barack Obama victory in the state could help boost their Assembly majority. But in the end, this was one of the races where the party came up just short.

 

Bill Berryhill now follows in the footsteps of his brother, Tom Berryhill, as the latest of several pairs of brothers to serve in the Legislature simultaneously. (Ralph and Clayton Dills served together in the Assembly in the 1940s, and John and Robert McCarthy served together in the Senate in the 1950s.).  The younger Berryhill was a member of the Ceres School Board, and runs his family's grape and almond farm in the Central Valley.

 

Berryhill received an unexpectedly strong challenge from moderate Democrat and fellow almond rancher John Eisenhut. Democrats promoted Eisenhut's biography, his Bronze Star in Vietnam and his Valley roots, and made a late financial push to knock off Berryhill. While Democrats have closed the registration gap in this San Joaquin/Stanislaus-area district, Republicans were able to hold on, and will be looking to solidify Berryhill for 2010.

 

Assembly District 27

Bill Monning, D-Santa Cruz

For Santa Cruz Freshman Bill Monning, the Legislature may be the perfect place to put his professional training to use. Since 1993, has bee a Professor of International Negotiation and Conflict Resolution at the Monterey Institute of International Studies.

Those skills may come in handy when dealing with the divisiveness that often marks legislative politics - whether it is inter-party or intra-party tensions.

 

Monning is finally on his way to Sacramento more than ten years after first sought the job. Monning ran for the Assembly in 1994 against moderate Republican Bruce McPherson.

 

Monning, a former attorney for the United Farm Workers, bested Democrat Emily Reilly, owner of a beloved local Santa Cruz bakery who had a host of support from progressive leaders. But Monning's strong support from SEIU, the UFW and the California Teachers Association helped him win a comfortable victory on Election Day.

 

Monning has said he wants to change campaign finance laws, and change the state budget rules by reducing the two-thirds majority vote required to pass a budget to a 55 percent vote.

 

Assembly District 30

Danny Gilmore, R-Hanford

Many in Sacramento are eager to meet the man who got Nicloe Parra all but kicked out of the Democratic Party. Gilmore was the beneficiary in Sacramento's longest-running Democratic soap opera involving the Parra family and the Florez family.

 

Parra, a Hanford Democrat, irked her party by backing Gilmore - who had narrowly beaten Parra for the seat two years ago. Perhaps it was Gimore's political views that swayed Parra. Or maybe, just maybe, it was the fact that Gilmore was running against Fran Florez, the Shafter mayor and mother of Parra's arch nemesis, Dean Florez.

 

Despite Democratic gains around the state, this was the one seat Republicans took back, as Gilmore won a decisive victory over Florez. Dean Florez tried to leverage his political clout, placing himself in much of the campaign main on his mother's behalf, but it was not enough to keep Gilmore from finally taking the seat back into the Republican column.

 

Gilmore is a former Assistant Police Chief in Fresno, and is likely to be a strong law and order vote in the Assembly. But it will be interesting to see how, if at all, he moves to solidify his base as he contemplates reelection in two years.

 

Assembly District 34

Connie Conway, R-Tulare

Judging from her list of stated legislative priorities, conservatives have found an apt replacement for Assemblyman Bill Maze in Connie Conway.

 

But Conway had to overcome Maze and his family in the primary. Maze's wife, Becky, ran for her husband's seat, but finished a distant third behind Conway and former sheriff deputy Bob Smith.

 

The Tulare County supervisor has espoused much of the spending cuts and tough-on-crime rhetoric familiar to voters in this part of the Central Valley, who sent Conway to Sacramento with nearly two-thirds of the vote on Election Day.

 

Conway is a former president of the California State Association of Counties, which has given her a background in Sacramento politics. She was also appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to the California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley.

Her father, John Conway, was also a Tulare County Supervisor.

 

Assembly District 36

Steve Knight, R-Palmdale

The high desert has long been considered safe Republican territory. So many Capitol watchers were surprised on Election Night to see Democrat Linda Jones within six percentage points of Republican Steve Knight, the scion of a Palmdale political family who most expected to coast to an easy election victory.

 

Knight's unexpectedly close race had something to do with John McCain's weak showing at the top of the Republican ticket. But it also underscores a new political reality that the freshman Assemblyman must be cognizant of as he takes office. The high desert above Log Angeles is changing. And if demographic trends continue over the next few years, Steve Knight may be facing a series of tough election challenges during his time here in Sacramento.

 

Knight is the son of the late Sen. Pete Knight. The elder Knight was perhaps best known for his opposition to gay marriage, and his backing of Proposition 22, known as the Knight Initiative, which banned gay marriage in California back in 2000.

 

The younger Knight is a former Los Angeles Police Officer and member of the Palmdale City Council, who received strong backing from the state's conservative establishment, including an independent expenditure campaign from the conservative California Republican Assembly.

 

Assembly District 40

Bob Blumenfield, D-Van Nuys

If powerful friends are the key to success in California, than incoming Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield is a rookie to watch. Blumenfield entered the race with the backing of his former boss, longtime San Fernando Valley Congressman Howard Berman, D-Los Angeles, and an impressive coalition of elected officials that might symbolize the political change under way in the San Fernando Valley.

 

Among those backing Blumenfield were Valley legislators Alex Padilla, D-Pacoima, and Felipe Fuentes, D-Sylmar. The alliance is significant for what it may portend during the next round of Congressional gerrymandering. Berman's Congressional district has been changing rapidly over the last decade, and Latinos are eager to carve out a Congressional seat in the San Fernando Valley. Both Fuentes and Padilla are prime candidates to run for that seat, should one exist.

 

That would mean collapsing Berman's Valley district with Brad Sherman's Westside district, setting up some serious tensions between a pair of sitting Congressmen. And with the Legislature still in control of drawing those districts, is will be interesting to watch Blumenfield's maneuvering as the new maps are redrawn.

 

But his experience with Berman, as well as his background on the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, also means Blumenfield comes to Sacramento with a high-class political pedigree that could make him a standout among the large freshman class.

 

Assembly District 46

John Perez, D-Los Angeles

Like so many political candidates in today's Sacramento, John Perez's election was marked first and foremost as a proxy war among Los Angeles political titans. Perez, the political director of the United Food and Commerical Workers Local in Los Angeles and no stranger to Sacramento politics, is also the cousin of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. And just before the filing deadline, the race to replace outgoing Assemblyman Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, looked like it was going to pit three Democratic leaders against each other.

 

Both Ricardo Lara, a staffer for Núñez, and Arturo Chavez, who works for state Sen. Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, were planning to run for the seat. But Villaraigosa called in Maria-Elena Durazo, head of the the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, to help muscle Lara and Chavez out of the race.

 

Perez is a well-known force in Los Angeles politics, and is not known as the easiest boss to work for. He is smart, but tough, and it will be interesting to see how he makes the transition from behind the scenes power broker to elected official.

 

We're already hearing rumblings that there may be more fallout from the deal that helped ease Perez's path to victory. Cedillo himself, who has two years of Assembly eligibility left, is said to be contemplating a run against Perez in 2010.

 

Assembly District 52

Isadore Hall, D-Compton

This was another one of the nastier primary races, but in the end it wasn't close. Compton councilman Isadore Hall easily bested his Democratic rivals and went on to an easy victory in November. Hall, a former member of the Metropolitan Water District Board, is also a former Compton school board member.

 

In his spare time, he became a reserve officer for the L.A. County Sheriff's department, calling the achievement "a life-long dream."

Hall opted to run for Assembly after strongly considering a run for the Congressional seat left open by the death of Juanita Millender-McDonald.

 

Hall touts his experience in real estate as a foundation for his pro-business political philosophy, helping to lure businesses such as Best Buy into the city of Compton. That may explain the $235,000 independent expenditure a coalition of business groups made on Hall's behalf in the primary against Linda Harris-Forster, who had the backing of organized labor and many other political luminaries.

 

Assembly District 54

Bonnie Lowenthal D-Long Beach

Related legislators have become a bit of a Capitol obsession in the term limits era, with multiple members of the Calderon, Strickland, Burton, and (almost) Florez clans gracing the halls at or almost at the same time. Now, for the next two years, Sen. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, will grace the building along with his ex-wife.

 

Both Lowenthals did stints on the Long Beach City Council (where their daughter-in-law Suja Lowenthal, now also serves). None of the Lowenthals appear to make any bones about where they stand as straightforward LA-area liberal Democrats. Bonnie Lowenthal made several well-photographed appearances at rallies promoting same-sex marriage during the campaign. She has endorsed a single-payer healthcare system, though she also said there were problems around cost-containment with the main recent proposal to make that happen, SB 840 from termed-out Sen. Sheila Kuehl.

 

Lowenthal's big issues in the Assembly are likely to be healthcare, education and transportation. She worked in family counseling and as a mental health coordinator for 30 years, and may try to push for increased mental health care coverage by the state, something likely to bring her to blows with Republicans. She has also been a school board member in Long Beach, and has also been a member of both the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and chaired the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority.

 

Assembly District 60

Curt Hagman, R-Chino Hills

It's not often an Assembly freshman has to worry about being overshadowed by the guy he beat in the primary. But Curt Hagman's first round-opponent, Larry Dick, made perhaps the least-fortunate comment of primary season-the infamous comment that: "It's a little challenging for me that Tommy Two Trees can open a casino, and Tommy Houllihan can't." This opened the door for Hagman, a former Chino Hills city councilman and mayor who already led in fundraising and endorsements, to crush Dick by 20 points, then take a gerrymandered general.

 

Law enforcement backgrounds are common among Republican members, but Hagman brings a slightly different version-he's a bail bondsman and former private investigator. As CEO of Apex Bail Bonds in Pomona, he oversees a staff of 22 spread across five locations. It's not surprising that a lot of his early support came from law enforcement-he made a "clean sweep" of law enforcement endorsements by the beginning of May, including the police chiefs and prison guards-and is expected to do lots of law enforcement legislation in Sacramento. He even raised some eyebrows in recent months for showing up to City Council meetings with a pair of large men who were apparently a security detail.

 

Assembly District 61

Norma Torres, D-Pomona

Lots of Democrats claim to represent unions, but Norma Torres actually belongs to one. Working as a bilingual Spanish/English 911 operator for years, she was a member of AFSCME 3090. She eventually worked her way up from a AFSCME shop steward to become a city councilwoman and mayor of Pomona, this last job being the one she gave up to join the Assembly.

 

Torres has said that one of the formative experiences leading her into politics came years ago while manning the phones at the 911 dispatch center. Due to a lack of Spanish-speaking operators, a young girl waited on hold for 20 minutes while her angry uncle roamed the house with a gun. Torres finished her other calls and got on the phone just in time to hear her be shot to death by the uncle. The incident pushed the Guatemalan immigrant to push her own union to call for more Spanish-speaking operators, which in turn pushed her into politics. She successfully fired a grievance against an attempt to reduce bonus pay for Spanish-speaking operators, won a fight to force $350,000 in repairs to her 911 call center, and more recently helped organize the Pomona Valley Hospital nurses into a union.

 

In other words, she's exactly the kind of labor rabble rouser sure to drive partisan Republicans nuts. But she's also been involved in anti-gang legislation, pushing for afterschool activities and even got a skate park built. She also has some recent showbiz cred, having appeared "Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares USA" on behalf of her family's restaurant, Lela's.

 

Assembly District 64

Brian Nestande, R-Riverside

Brian Nestande was one of those guys where we kept asking ourselves, "Is he elected yet?" He started out with huge advantages, such as an early endorsement from Congresswoman Mary Bono. We also have to remember we once put Chris Cabaldon in the same category, but that's where the resemblances end. Nestande is a pro-business GOP politician through and through, with the connections to prove it.

 

His career began after college in 1992 working as a deputy campaign manager for Congressman Michael Huffington. This led to his managing Sonny Bono's successful 1994 campaign for Congress. He went on to serve as chief of staff to Bono, and then to Mary Bono when she took over her late husband's seat after his death in 1997. In 2000, he left to run Nestande and Associates, a PR and government relations firm based on Palm Desert, largely representing alternative energy clients. He is not a registered lobbyist.

 

Nestande has staked out fairly standard Republican positions on illegal immigration, state spending (he signed the No Tax Pledge), and smiling family photos on his campaign website (he and his wife have seven children, including some from previous marriages). He has also said he would push to protect transportation money and cited several road projects he wants to get done. But he also may be a more receptive voice on environmental issues than some in the GOP caucus-something which has led a few in the party to label him as not conservative enough.

 

Assembly District 71

Jeff Miller, R-Corona

If you expected the new representative of the 71^st Assembly District to be a conservative Republican, you were right: Corona Mayor Jeff Miller, a small businessman and heir to Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, who was termed out, Miller brings to the table the classic conservative credentials: His campaign endorsements all involve law enforcement officials in two counties - in Orange County, where much of the 71^st is located, and in Riverside County, which includes the city of Corona. Anti-tax activists, led by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, and anti-illegal immigration interests also supported him.

 

Miller, who made his first try for public office in 2000 and was elected to the Corona City Council, is a respected force in transportation issues. He led the 91 Advisory Committee and has pushed aggressively for the extension of the Foothill South (241) Toll Road.

 

By profession, Miller, 44, is an insurance agent. He is a member of the Corona Norco YMCA, the Corona Heritage Foundation and is a Riverside County transportation commissioner. He is a past chairman of the Riverside County Republican Party. He also has a special interest in Mitochondrial diseases.

 

Miller, who has a degree in criminal justice from Cal State Fullerton, lives in Corona with his wife, Debora, and their two daughters.

 

Assembly District 73

Diane Harkey, R-Dana Point

Two years ago, Dana Point City Councilwoman Diane Harkey made a try for the state Senate when she faced Tom Harman in the race to replace John Campbell, who had left for Congress. She lost, but she kept her sights on Sacramento.

This year, she had an easier ride, despite confronting a fruitless recall movement over an alleged open-meeting-law violation involving the council. She defeated her GOP rival in the June primary by a 3-to-1 margin, and in the general she handily beat Democrat Judy Jones by more than 20,000 votes after spending about a half-million dollars. As in 2006, she ran an aggressive campaign and won endorsements from most of Orange County's GOP political establishment.

 

Harkey, a real estate banker by profession who lives on the coast with her husband Dan, knows money and is politically savvy - two qualities that likely will prove useful to the Assembly Republican Caucus. She's also dogged and thorough: When she ran for the Senate two years ago she spent much of her time introducing herself to the larger area outside Dana Point, and she solidified many of those contacts as she ran for the Assembly seat this year.

 

Democrats rule the Assembly, so the chances for Harkey, a first-termer in the minority party, to shine are negligible. Harkey replaces Mimi Walters who was termed out.

 

Assembly District 75

Nathan Fletcher, R-San Diego

For coastal San Diego County, Nathan Fletcher is a solid mix. A political conservative with a military background that includes service in Iraq and a stint as an intelligence analyst, this decorated former U.S. Marine Corps reservist  seems a good fit in this GOP stronghold. Fletcher, who served eight months in Iraq in 2004, is a graduate of the US Army Airborne Course and Marine Corps' Mountain Warfare Training Center.

 

There's more: He's an ironman triathlete, a world-class surfer and mountain climber and a mountain biker.

 

But mixed with the military is the political: He served the Republican Party in senior positions, and worked for the International Republican Institute in Asia and the Balkans.

 

He's also on the short list of the GOP's emerging stars, and he can count on some good career counseling: His wife, Mindy Fletcher, was a deputy campaign manager for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and, before that, served in President Bush's campaign staff and in his administration at the Department of Justice. The couple, members of the Community Bible Church, has one son, Zack.

 

About two-thirds of the 75^th District is in San Diego County, and the remainder is in southern Riverside County-Republican bastions that include some of the most heavily conservative districts in the state. Fletcher replaces George Plescia, a former Assembly GOP leader, who was termed out.

 

 

Assembly District 78

Marty Block, D-San Diego

The 78^th has been a battleground for years. Democrats have a 10-point margin in registration, and on paper this looks like easy prey for Democrats - but that's been an illusion. Republican Shirley Horton has represented the 78^th District for six years, narrowly defeating former Gray Davis aide Vince Hall in 2002 in a race that saw million-dollar spending on both sides. Horton is termed out this year.

 

This year, it was a different story in the district that runs south and east of San Diego proper as Democrats put the seat high on their hit list.

 

Democrat Marty Block, a retired San Diego State professor and president of the San Diego Community College trustees, handily defeated GOP rival John McCann, a member of the Chula Vista City Council. Already a closely divided district, the uptick in voter registrations among the young and Latinos was enough to easily propel Block over the top with a decisive, 11-point win - about 19,000 votes - over McCann.

 

Block has been visible in the district for years, and a quick look at his resume shows why: He seems to have joined everything: Port Commission, Commission on Children, Anti-Drug Abuse Task Force, founding chairman, Latino-Jewish Coalition; judge pro tem, San Diego Multiple Sclerosis Society, and more.

 

Block holds an undergraduate degree in political science from Indiana University, and a law degree from DePaul.

 

Assembly District 80

Manuel Perez, D-Indio

Nowhere was the voters' apparent desire for change reflected more dramatically this election than in the 80^th Assembly District, a sprawling desert seat that borders Mexico on the south, Arizona on the east, all of Imperial County and the eastern edge of Riverside County. Despite the Democrats' 44-36 percent registration edge over Republicans, the seat generally has been a safe haven for the GOP.

 

For the last six years it has been in the hands of Bonnie Garcia, a flamboyant and voluble Republican known more for her off-the-cuff comments - "I wouldn't kick him out of bed," she once told high school students, referring to the Gov. Schwarzenegger -- than for any legislative achievements.

 

But now comes Manuel Perez, 36, born in Indio, a teacher and member of the Coachella Valley School Board whose parents met working in the fields. A product of UC Riverside, Perez has a master's from Harvard. He's a community organizer - does that sound familiar? - he's a director of the Borrego Health Foundation. He has been especially active in women's health issues and, his supporters say, he brought the first ethnic studies curriculum to the Coachella Valley.

 

All in all, he's quite a package for a district that with some exceptions is accustomed to legislative back-benchers, and he has dramatically energized Latino voters. Latinos make up some 60 percent of 80^th's population and give the Democrats' their hefty registration edge. Getting them to vote hasn't always been easy, but Perez pulled it off: He beat Republican Gary Jeandron by a solid 5.8 percent - 46,000 votes to 41,000 - by focusing on jobs and health care.

 

He and his wife, Gladis, have two boys and they live in Coachella.

 

*Updates and corrects to show that other brothers served in the Legislature at the same time, including Ralph and Clayton Dills and John and Robert McCarthy.