5 seek election to rural Northern California Assembly seat

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Four Republicans and one Democrat are seeking to succeed a state Assemblyman in a sprawling, Republican-leaning Northern California district.

Tuesday’s special primary election will send the top-two vote-getters to a runoff election in November unless one candidate wins more than half the vote.

Megan Dahle is seeking to win the Assembly District 1 seat vacated when her husband, Republican Brian Dahle, won the empty Senate seat in June.

The other Republicans are gun shop owner and former Redding City Councilman Patrick Henry Jones; Lane Rickard, who ran field operations for the region’s former state senator; and disabled veteran Joe Turner.

Elizabeth Betancourt is the Democrat seeking to represent the rural district. It’s bigger than West Virginia, stretching from suburban Sacramento to the state’s northeastern corner.