The fight for the next speaker heated up last week as freshman Assembly Member John Perez (D-Los Angeles) appeared as a front runner for the speakership post. Current Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) will be termed out of office next year after a speakership term full of budget fights.
However, Assembly Member Kevin De Leon (D-Los Angeles), who has been eyeing the Assembly’s top leadership post for months, is continuing the fight for speaker. He won the support of the Assembly’s 17-member Latino caucus last week. Ten caucus members where present at the meeting and seven of them pledged support for Assembly Member De Leon.
Speaker Bass, last Wednesday, confident that Assembly Member J. Perez had the votes to secure the speakership, announced her support for him as well. She said that a vote could come as early as this week.