[ From: "Williams makes assembly run official," By Eric Lindberg, DAILY SOUND, July 7, 2009]


Das Williams made official yesterday what had been presumed for months in local political circles — he is running for the 35th District State Assembly seat next year.

The Santa Barbara councilmember hopes to beat out challenger Susan Jordan in the Democratic primary and face off against the Republican nominee in the race to succeed termed-out Assemblymember Pedro Nava.

“I am running for the State Assembly because I believe we can no longer follow this same broken path and expect real change,” he said in a campaign statement. “We need to reprioritize and refocus, holding true to our progressive values of creating educational opportunities for our kids, protecting our coastline and ensuring that the burden of our economic recovery isn’t shouldered on our most vulnerable citizens.”

He kicked off his campaign with two official announcements, one at a school in Ventura and another at a fire station in Santa Barbara. Williams has served on the council since 2003 and was re-elected to another term two years ago.

He has already secured the endorsements of Hannah-Bath Jackson, a former assemblymember who employed Williams early in his political career as a policy aide, and Ventura County Supervisor Steve Bennett.

Labels: 2010, 35th Assembly District