SD 29: Huff and Mountjoy

One in a series on contested state Senate races on the primary election ballot.

Judging by his campaign fundraising, former Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy should lose in the June 3 primary Republican primary.

In the first period of 2008, Mountjoy raised only $14,700, leaving him with an anemic $5,900 for the final two-plus month homestretch of the campaign.

But fundraising reports don't always predict election winners.

Mountjoy, who served three terms in the Assembly ending in 2006, is running largely on the strength of last name. He followed his father into the Assembly and is looking to do the same in the Senate. In parts of the 29th district, which includes portions of Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside Counties, there has been a Mounjoy on the ballot in every election cycle since 1978.

Assemblyman Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar, is hoping to break that cycle and outraised Mountjoy 10-1 in the first period of 2008 and had $380,000 in the bank, after debts.

Both candidates are running to the right. Huff's first two issues on his Web site are "opposing higher taxes" and "opposing illegal immigration." Mountjoy, known for his confrontational ways with Democrats on the Assembly floor, garnered the backing of the conservative California Republican Assembly, though Huff plans to challenge the vote at the group's convention in late April.

The winner of the GOP primary in the 29th district, currently represented by Sen. Bob Margett, will ease through the November election, as Republicans enjoy a 50,000-voter registration advantage in the district.

District profile: SD 29

Current member: Sen. Bob Margett
Total registered voters: 440,797
Republican: 44.19 percent
Democratic: 32.37 percent
Declined-to-state: 19.74 percent

Registered Republicans, by county:
Los Angeles: 99,961
Orange: 36,393
San Bernardino: 27,705

Campaign Web sites:
Assemblyman Bob Huff
Former Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy