In the Nov. 3 election, voters will decide whether they want Democrat council member Deborah Klein Lopez or Republican business owner Ted Nordblum to represent them in the state's 42nd Assembly District.
The district represents more than 517,000 people from east Ventura County, including Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Moorpark and parts of Camarillo, as well as parts of neighboring Los Angeles County, such as Malibu, Agoura Hills and Calabasas.
In the primary election, Klein Lopez finished as the top vote-getter with 51%, followed by Nordblum with 26% of the vote and then Simi Valley City Council member Rocky Rhodes with 23%.
The two candidates seek the seat currently held by Jacqui Irwin, who is termed out of office after serving six two-year terms.
She is running for U.S. Representative in District 26.
Who are the candidates?
Klein Lopez is the mayor pro tem of the Agoura Hills City Council, which she has served on since 2018. She previously worked as a staffer in the California State Senate and Assembly.
The area native said she didn’t consider running herself until Irwin asked her to do so in 2023.
“I realized all of these things I've done in the local realm would actually be a great help to be able to extrapolate that to the state level,” she said. “So the fact that she reached out to me first — that she saw this in me before I even saw it in myself — is just incredibly, incredibly meaningful.”
The 58-year-old has raised roughly $940,000 since January, according to campaign finance reports.
Nordblum, a Newbury Park resident, has owned medical device company Titan Medical for more than 20 years. He said he believes that sometimes, government is best run like a business.
The 61-year-old ran for the seat unsuccessfully in both 2022 and 2024 and in this year, he hopes to challenge the status quo and ultimately help break the Democratic supermajority.
“Just being an elected official doesn’t make you a better candidate,” he said. “I want to focus on fixing California and making life easier for the people in my district.”
Campaign finance reports show he has raised roughly $170,000 since January.
Candidates talk about public safety, environment, housing
Nordblum’s top priority is public safety; he said he’s concerned by the prevalence of drug dealers — especially since losing his brother to a fentanyl overdose — and South American theft groups.
He said he would get bipartisan support to fund Proposition 36, which allows harsher charges and sentences for certain drug and theft crimes.
“I want to make sure our streets are safe,” he said. “It’s my No. 1 priority because without public safety, you don’t have a civilization.”
Klein Lopez said she plans to advocate for more resources for local law enforcement and address the root causes of crime, including mental health.
She is also in favor of reasonable gun control measures that close loopholes allowing dangerous weapons to enter California from other states.
Both candidates see affordability and the environment as intertwined, and they feel the intersection is perhaps their most significant opportunity to make an impact.
With her experience repeatedly lowering electricity rates on the Clean Power Alliance board, Klein Lopez said she has what it takes to stand up to investor-owned utility companies and ensure constituents are less impacted by rate increases and the consequences of public safety power shutoffs.
“I really want to push for a shared responsibility, a shared liability, of climate change and some of the ways that it affects our community,” she said. “We should not be the ones to have to bear the brunt of that loss.”
Elected shortly before the Woolsey fire, the council member also plans to educate homeowners and business owners to prepare for wildfires and to encourage insurance companies to reward them for hardening their structures by making rates more affordable.
Nordblum, who lost his home to the Woolsey fire, agrees that more needs to be done in regard to fire prevention. He said he would invest in firebreaks, controlled burns, brush clearance and water reservoirs, which he also believes would lower homeowner insurance rates.
The candidate said California needs to accept that oil is the heartbeat of the economy and that it can be a responsible form of energy. Importing oil from other countries, he said, not only hurts Americans’ wallets at the gas station but also at grocery and clothing stores, as the cost of transportation is passed down to the consumer.
He also would like to cut the gas tax.
Makena Huey is an investigative and watchdog reporter for the Ventura County Star. Reach her at makena.huey@vcstar.com. This story was made possible by a grant from the Ventura County Community Foundation's Fund to Support Local Journalism. The foundation plays no role in story selection. The Star retains full editorial control.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Assembly District 42 candidates discuss public safety, housing, more
