Assembly District 50: Bloom Wins Reelection Comfortably

AGOURA HILLS, CA — Incumbent District 50 Assemblyman and former Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom cruised to reelection Tuesday night, winning with an 82.4-18.6 percent lead over challenger Will Hess as of Wednesday morning.

Neither campaign has released a statement.

Bloom and Will Hess competed to represent District 50, which spans the Santa Monica Mountain range along the coast, through West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, and Malibu.

Bloom, a Santa Monican who has represented the District since 2012, serves as Chair of the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Resources and Transportation, where he has pushed for renewable energy development and reducing the carbon footprint. He has also helped establish regulations against fracking, rodenticides, and plastic microbeads, and has pushed for improved rail safety and oil spill responses.

Bloom also sits on committees on budgets, higher education, and local government. Before joining the Assembly, he served on the Santa Monica City Council for 13 years, which included three stints as mayor.

Hess, a Louisiana native, is a filmmaker who wrote, directed and produced a documentary on Marvel Comics founder Stan Lee. He lists eradicating homelessness as his top priority, promising to audit the money being spent on homelessness, and figure out how to cut "waste and corruption, which must be part of why although hundreds of millions have been tossed annually at this problem for years, things only seem to get worse." Hess wants to build large camps outside Los Angeles where the homeless can receive "three hots and a cot" in addition to other services.