Dawn Addis plans Assembly run after state releases draft district maps 

Following her first attempt to capture the 35th Assembly District seat in 2020, Morro Bay City Councilmember Dawn Addis announced that she'll be trying again in 2022—and this time around, the district's boundaries and partisan breakdown may look quite different.

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• Photo Courtesy Of Dawn Addis For Assembly 2022
• ANOTHER RUN Morro Bay City Councilmember Dawn Addis announced that she'll be running for the state Assembly's 35th District again, a district that could be altered significantly in the ongoing redistricting process.

Addis said her experience serving on City Council, co-founding Women's March San Luis Obispo, being a classroom teacher, and working to expand child care through the We Are the Care Initiative are among the reasons why she's prepared to represent the 35th District in Sacramento.

"I've really led on a lot of important issues: Declaring a climate emergency in Morro Bay, and working on some of the largest projects on the Central Coast that can address climate, including battery storage and wind energy," Addis said. "I deeply believe that housing, education, and health care are human rights, and I want to work for every person in the district to make sure that they get the representation they need."

In her 2020 run for the same seat, the Democrat captured just more than 103,000 voters, though it wasn't enough to defeat incumbent Republican Jordan Cunningham, who won with 55 percent of the electorate.

But in 2022, that electorate may look very different due to the statewide redistricting effort. Based on once-a-decade census data, redistricting will redraw boundary lines at all levels of government.

California Assembly districts won't be finalized for at least another month, but a draft map released Nov. 10 shows the 35th District losing more conservative areas like Northern Santa Barbara County, all while gaining parts of Democrat-majority counties like Monterey and Santa Cruz. Under this preliminary draft map, Democrat registered voters would have a 17.7 point edge in the district, according to voter registration data from Political Data Inc., which Addis' campaign believes would bode well for her on Election Day.

"We believe the new Central Coast Assembly district will be very receptive to Dawn's experience and values," campaign spokesperson Michael Soneff told New Times in a written statement.

Cunningham hasn't yet announced whether he will run for the seat again in 2022, but when asked about Addis' decision to run, the assemblyman's campaign spokesperson, Matt Rexroad, criticized her for announcing her run before district maps were finalized.

"Dawn Addis announced on draft district maps," Rexroad said in a written statement. "That alone shows she is inexperienced and unable to effectively represent the Central Coast in the Assembly. ... And we don't need higher taxes, which she has a record of supporting. The Central Coast is expensive enough already."

Addis campaigner Soneff pointed to his candidate's first Assembly run as a testament to her ability to gain support both in and out of the district.

"Despite Jordan Cunningham's special-interest friends spending hundreds of thousands of dollars falsely attacking her, Dawn Addis received over 103,000 votes in 2020 and built an incredible grassroots coalition across the Central Coast," Soneff wrote. Δ