AD-74: Katherine Daigle Pulls Papers, Joining Karina Onofre in Field of Increasingly Bizarre Challengers to Matt Harper
Posted by Chris Nguyen on February 11, 2016
Assemblyman Matt Harper (R-Huntington Beach)
Katherine Daigle (R), Perennial candidate for Mayor of Irvine, has pulled papers to challenge the re-election bid of Assemblyman Matt Harper (R-Huntington Beach). Daigle, who received 14% of the vote in 2012 and 11.6% of the vote in 2014, was accused of being a decoy candidate to split the Republican vote in the mayoral races, but Steven Choi (R) prevailed over Larry Agran (D) in 2012 and Mary Ann Gaido (D) in 2014 despite Daigle’s presence in the race.
Daigle’s quixotic bid for State Assembly means one of two things: she wasn’t a decoy candidate in her mayoral bids or her handlers to make her a decoy candidate for mayor have inadvertently unleashed her desires for any public office.
I don’t understand people who lose bids for office who decide to run for higher office. How does losing two races for mayor make Daigle think she could win a race for Assembly? (Similar note: How did Carly Fiorina think losing a U.S. Senate race would make her a good candidate for President? At least Fiorina finally had the good sense to drop out of the presidential race yesterday.)
Daigle pulling papers combined with Karina Onofre being the sole Democrat to pull papers could well give AD-74 the most bizarre field of challengers for a sitting incumbent.
Readers may recall Onofre inadvertently played a key role in getting Harper elected to the Assembly in 2014. That year, Onofre pulled papers for AD-74 as a Republican but filed papers as a Democrat (she had only been a Republican for 20 months). Onofre pulled enough of the Democratic vote away from actual Democrat Anila Ali to push Ali into third place. Harper then landed in second place behind Newport Beach Councilman Keith Curry (R). Thanks to the top two primary and Onofre getting Ali into third place, Republicans Curry and Harper advanced to the run-off where Harper prevailed. Had Onofre not gotten into the race, it would have been Curry vs. Ali in November, where Curry would have won by a landslide.
For the entire OC Political file on the bizarreness of Karina “Karina” Onofre, click here.
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Drew said
You are way off Chris, AD 36 has the most bizarre challengers to an incumbent. Ollie McCaulley (former GOP, now Dem busted in a stolen valor scandal for declaring himself a General) and Steve Fox (Assemblyman Northern “indecent” Exposure)