La Malfa Vacancy: Nielsen wins Special Election

Doug La Malfa

With Jim Nielsen receiving just over 50% of the vote, the Special Election to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of State Senator Doug La Malfa has been filled. Nielsen will have the option of being sworn in as early as December.

Senator La Malfa had resigned on September 1st, at the end of the Legislative Session. La Malfa’s early departure will allow his successor to be sworn in early enough in the term to introduce legislation and participate fully in the legislative calendar.

In other news, La Malfa was elected to Congress.

Election Night Parties (A Lesson from Charles F. Van de Water)

Friday marks the 140th birthday of Congressman-elect Charles F. Van de Water. Van de Water was one of those few elected officials in state history who was elected to an office but never took that seat. Van de Water was killed in a late night car crash while returning home from a party to celebrate his successful campaign.

In this case, Van de Water died November 20, 1920, about two months before he would have assumed the Congressional seat that he had been elected to eighteen days before. In the 1920 election, Van de Water defeated the incumbent, Charles H. Randall (the first Prohibition candidate ever elected to Congress) who later went on to serve on the L.A. City Council.

The lesson to learn here: for those of you planning election night parties, make sure that you have a designated driver (or place to sleep) for anyone who parties a little too hard. You really don’t want something like this to happen.

LINK: New York Times article about the crash