Bill Essayli’s Assembly Seat is Up for Grabs
RIVERSIDE (CNS) – Riverside County voters on Tuesday will decide which of four candidates will fill a state Assembly seat left vacant by a presidential appointment.
The June 24 Special Primary Election for the 63rd Assembly District was called by the governor earlier this year after then-Assemblyman Bill Essayli, R-Norco, was tapped by President Trump to serve as U.S. attorney for the Central District of California.
Essayli had just been elected to his second term when he received the appointment.
In Tuesday’s primary, Libertarian candidate Vince Consalvo, Democrat Chris Shoults and Republicans Natasha Johnson and Vincent Romo will square off in the hope of an outright win to fill the vacancy, or an opportunity to compete in a general election.
Any candidate who receives a clear majority would be declared victor, negating the need for a two-way contest in November.
Consalvo, who identified himself as a businessman and educator, listed among his top priorities lifting the state income tax burden on all seniors to ensure they can remain in their homes, as well as mandating salary caps for all officials working for the county, in addition to employees of municipalities.
“We need more tax incentives for local businesses and less fees to start a small business,” Consalvo said. “Basically, it’s about making it easier to do business in the state and district so companies don’t have to go to another state for lower taxes.”
Shoults lost to Essayli in the November 2024 general election. The father of three is originally from Wyoming, where he farmed and taught school before relocating with his family to Riverside County, where he has been an English teacher at the high school and college levels.
“My top priority will be to deliver resources and commonsense solutions,” Shoults said in election literature. “We need to lower the cost of living, make housing affordable, create good paying jobs … and protect our freedoms and our safety.”
The union activist has said previously he’s “fed up with Sacramento politicians” and would cross the aisle to end “partisan games (and) get results.”
Johnson has been a Lake Elsinore City Council member since 2012. She said her entire orientation is “good government” by staying focused on what policies best “protect taxpayers.”
“As an Assembly member, I will support law enforcement to keep our neighborhoods safe, fight Sacramento taxes and red tape to lower our cost of living and protect parental rights and put students and parents first,” she said.
The candidate has worked in personal finance and business for nearly three decades.
Romo, a high school history teacher, has touted himself as a “grassroots candidate for Assembly” who would make “transparency” among his chief goals.
“My career as a history professor qualifies me to disrupt the Democrat supermajority,” he said. “You’ve trusted me with our youth; now let me shake up Sacramento.”
He named small business tax and bureaucratic relief, lower taxes for residents, de-regulation to make housing more affordable and parental rights as the driving motivations for his candidacy.
The 63rd Assembly District encompasses Norco, west Corona, Temescal Valley, Lake Elsinore, Menifee, Woodcrest, south and east Riverside, Mead Valley, Meadowbrook and several surrounding communities.
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