State Certifies Candidates for March Special Election

A total of four candidates have been certified to run in a special election to decide who represents California's 40th Senate District, the Secretary of State announced Tuesday.

The 40th Senate District is comprised of areas in South San Diego, Imperial and Riverside counties.

Two of the four candidates, Hector Gastelum and Xanthi Gionis, are from Chula Vista, the largest city in the district. Both Gastelum and Gionis are Republicans.

Recently elected to his second term of office, State Assemblyman Ben Hueso will also seek the State Senator office. The 80th Assembly District he currently represents is made up of parts of National City, Chula Vista and San Diego.

The fourth candidate, Anna Nevenic, is a nurse, author and resident of Cathedral City in Riverside County.

Both Hueso and Nevenic are Democrats.

Juan Vargas, who represented the 40th Senate District, resigned earlier this month after he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. The winner of the election would serve a partial term and would have to run for office again in 2014.

Gionis ran against Vargas for the seat in Congress in the 2012 election.

Should Hueso win the election, labor leader Lorena Gonzalez has already expressed her intention to run for his seat in the State Assembly. Chula Vista City Councilman Steve Castaneda has also expressed an interest in the seat, U-T San Diego reported.

A special election will take place March 12. If no candidate receives a majority of votes, a runoff election between the top two candidates will be held May 14.

A raffle was held in Sacramento Tuesday to determine the order in which candidates' names will appear on the ballot.

The last day to register for the special election is Feb. 22.

March 5 is the last day to file an application for a vote-by-mail ballot.

Voters can expect to find fewer places to vote on Election Day than in a normal election, a County of San Diego Registrar of Voters official said. A final list of places to vote will be released in the coming weeks.

The registrar will begin to send candidate statements and mail ballots Feb. 11.

Early voters can also go to the registrar's office to vote during normal business hours from Feb. 11 to March 12.

Visit the registrar's website to learn how to register to vote.

See a calendar for the special election attached to this story in PDF form.