You did not hear it here first. I just have friends all over Northern California – some of whom are friends of Les Baugh. Les Baugh is a Shasta County Supervisor that announced his candidacy for State Senate.
Since this seat is new and Gaines will have to move – this is effectively a primary battle for an open seat.
This is all in the backdrop of the referendum against the map abortion perpetrated by the “citizens” (owned by unions) redistricting committee. So, there is a real possibility this fight may not happen – however, previous maps had Placer and Shasta still in the same SD.
Les Baugh is well-respected in the North State and is an assistant pastor of the Second-Largest congregation in Shasta County in the town of Anderson.
From Bruce Ross of the Redding Record-Searchlight:
Les Baugh has an announcement to make
I got some feedback about Baugh’s announcement today from a CRA friend in Shasta County:
“Today’s introduction of Les Baugh was quite spiritual and patriotic.”
Emotion. Not Ted Gaines’ strong suit.
That being said, Ted Gaines is still the prohibitive favorite – but Gaines has burnt even more bridges since his successful run against Roger Niello. For starters – there are hundreds of John Allard supporters who feel betrayed.
There is a laundry list of people that have helped Ted Gaines and have gotten nothing but a gluten-free mess sandwich in return. (See also Beth and Ted abstaining rather than endorsing Dan Logue at the Placer GOP Cent Com level for example…)
It will be a race – but don’t know how far Les Baugh will get in that tilt, but maybe it will force Ted Gaines to start mending some fences?