Anderson Councilwoman Melissa Hunt runs for State Assembly

SHASTA COUNTY, Calif. — First District State Assemblywoman Megan Dahle of Bieber has announced she's giving up her seat to run for State Senate, hoping to succeed her husband, Brian, who is up against term limits.

That creates an opening for assembly. The first candidate to announce her intention to fill that seat is Anderson City Councilwoman Melissa Hunt. The 16-year councilmember says she's looking to bring some common sense to Sacramento.

"I'm a conservative voice. I've been on the Anderson City Council since '07 and Anderson is thriving now. We are. I love my city. We're doing great things in Anderson. And I want to take that experience I got from Anderson and take it to Sacramento for the state. We need to make a few changes and it's going to be exciting."

Hunt says her top priorities are familiar: forest management, homelessness, drugs and public safety. "Homeless has multi-facets of it. There is the fentanyl epidemic; we have to attend to that. And then, on top of that, Newsom has closed our prisons. A lot of these people are from the prisons and they don't have anywhere to go. And, they're addicted. We need, mental health, to deal with that, and we need to open up some of the prisons so we can get the people that are in our jails, that have terms that are supposed to be served in a prison, we need to get them back to prison. And then, on top of that, [it] would open up our jails and give our local law enforcement more room for the local offenders."

The Primary Election is about a year from now. The First District includes Shasta County, Modoc County and Siskiyou County, and then wraps along the Nevada border into the Gold Country.

--

To report errors or issues with this article please email the editorial team.