Democrat Betsy Butler wins open South Bay Assembly seat

Democrat Betsy Butler won an open state Assembly seat in the South Bay, beating Republican engineer Nathan Mintz of Redondo Beach by 7 percentage points in the 53rd Assembly District.

With 100% of precincts reporting, Butler, a  former fundraiser for a trial attorneys organization, turned back an unexpectedly strong challenge and wound up with 50.3% of the vote.    

--Bettina Boxall