Steve Glazer defeated Susan Bonilla in the
hard-fought SD7 race last May by 10 points.

STATE SENATE | DISTRICT 7 | Nearly five months after Susan Bonilla fell short in a grueling and often acrimonious intraparty special election against Steve Glazer in the Seventh State Senate District, she announced Monday she will not mount another campaign for the seat next year.

Glazer, who defeated Bonilla in May, is serving the remaining two years of Rep. Mark DeSaulnier’s term in the state Senate. Bonilla is termed out of her Fourteenth Assembly District seat at the end of 2016.

In a letter to supporters Monday Bonilla strongly alluded to the brutal tenor of the race earlier this year.

“I believe our efforts are best spent in uniting our collective voices to help achieve a better quality of life for our entire community. Having our community experience a negative and divisive election based on lies, personal attacks, and defamation of character is harmful and damaging for our community. Running for Public Office should always be focused on a debate of ideas and values that will help our community and not tear us apart, she wrote.

“Therefore, in order to ensure that all of our collective efforts remain focused on building a stronger foundation for the next generation of families, I am announcing that I will not run for State Senate in 2016.”

The special general election last spring included more than $7 million worth of independent expenditure committee spending. The outlay went far in filling voters mailboxes with an enormous number of campaign attack mailers. One district voter posted on Twitter a photo of his inches-thick collection of mailers that resembled a department store mail catalog.

Without Bonilla in the race next year, there appears to be no credible opponent on the radar to face Glazer next June. Most believed Bonilla was the most likely candidate to cause Glazer concern. Some East Bay political observers felt Bonilla’s chances in 2016 would be bolstered by a more liberal set of voters participating in the 2016 fall presidential election.

In the letter, Bonilla adds she will continue to advocate for education, health care and consumer protection through the remaining year in office. Following the end of the current legislative season, only two other members of the entire State Legislature had more bills signed by Gov. Jerry Brown than Bonilla’s 14.

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