Lancaster resident Johnathon Ervin, a previous state Senate candidate, has unofficially filed to run to represent the 36th Assembly District in 2020.
According to campaign filings, Ervin opened a committee to challenge Rep. Tom Lackey, R-Palmdale, for Democratic control of the district, which includes a small portion of the Santa Clarita Valley.
The challenger has not yet filed a “statement of intention to run” to begin collecting contributions. However, a Facebook statement from the Antelope Valley Democrats stated Ervin has plans to run for the seat Lackey currently holds.
Ervin, a U.S. Air Force Reserves sergeant master, is the first to declare candidacy for the 2020 election races concerning the SCV.
He isn’t a new face either — he ran against Sen. Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, in the 2016 21st California Senate District and was defeated with 47.17 percent of the vote to Wilk’s 52.83 percent.
Ervin had a platform focused on aerospace, infrastructure and the economy. His background is in aerospace engineering and he has served as a planning commissioner for the city of Lancaster.
“Our district needs a senator that values our aerospace legacy,” he wrote in 2016, according to the biography then posted on his campaign website. “I fully understand that the world is a dangerous place and our district has a very important role to play in the defense of our great nation and our allies.”
