Former San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council leader Lorena Gonzalez was elected to the State Assembly Tuesday night.
Gonzalez replaces former Assemblyman Ben Hueso who was elected to the State Senate earlier this year.
Gonzalez defeated fellow Democrat and former Chula Vista Councilman Steve Castaneda by a large margin.
Gonzalez garnered 72.3 percent of the vote, while Castaneda mustered 27.7 percent, according to California’s Secretary of State website.
The newly elected assemblywoman said she ran a solid campaign, but didn’t expect to win as decisively as she did.
Gonzalez, who is resigning as head of the Labor Council for the Assembly job, said her first order of business in Sacramento is to vote on the hundreds of bills that will be coming her way.
She said it will be a while before she can draft legislation.
“We need more jobs, we need better jobs, we need better opportunity for everybody in our state, and that’s what I am going to focus on,” Gonzalez said.
She will be sworn in Tuesday, May 28.
