Logue bows out of Senate run; cites health reasons

Citing health issues, Assemblyman Dan Logue announced he will not seek the 4th Senate District seat in the Nov. 6 special election, and will instead concentrate on winning a final two-year term in the state Assembly.

"I visited my physician late last week and he informed me that some antibiotics that I had been taking had damaged my kidneys," Logue, R-Loma Rica, said in a statement posted Monday afternoon on the website of Flash Report, a popular blog and news aggregator among California Republicans.

"The doctor informed me that unless I stopped taking the antibiotics and rested for six weeks, I could do severe damage to my kidneys. He also indicated that my health would completely return in 6 weeks," Logue stated.

Logue, who will appear on the ballot as both a candidate for the 3rd Assembly District and the 4th Senate District, said campaigning in the sprawling 12-county Senate district would be difficult given his health concerns.

However, several scenarios could come into play.

If Logue's Senate supporters follow his wishes, they would likely shift their votes to Assemblyman Jim Nielsen, R-Gerber.

However, it could also turn out similar to the Assembly primary in which Logue and Democrat Charles Rouse of Corning emerged for the November runoff, and the second Republican in the open primary, Tehama County Supervisor Bob Williams was left on the outside loo ing in.

Logue, if he were to be one of the top two vote-getters could split votes with Nielsen, and Democrat Michael "Mickey" Harrington of Magalia could garner enough support for the runoff.

In that scenario, whether Logue were to campaign or not, Nielsen would not be on the ballot.

But Logue getting more votes than Nielsen on Nov. 6 was not a guarantee.

Nielsen, R-Gerber, has the endorsement of former state Sen. Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale, who is running for Congress. It is LaMalfa's Senate seat that is up for grabs.

Harrington has not been campaigning hard for the seat, and there are three other candidates, Benjamin Emery of Nevada City, Dan Levine of Chico and Jann Reed of Chico who will be on the ballot.

Emery, Levine and Reed do not list a party affiliation.

Because the Senate race is a special election, if any of the candidates were to get more than 50 percent of the votes on Nov. 6, he or she would automatically win the Senate seat, eliminating the need for a January runoff.

If that candidate was Logue, and if he were also to win the Assembly race, he would have to choose.

Either way, there would be a special election that could cost the taxpayers millions.