Assemblyman Richard Pan opened a campaign committee to raise money for a possible Senate campaign just one day after winning re-election to the lower house from a newly drawn district he had moved into to run, records show.
The Sacramento Democrat signed documents to launch the "Dr. Richard Pan for Senate 2014" committee on Nov. 7, while absentee and provisional ballots were still being counted in Pan's easy victory over Republican Tony Amador. The filing was reported by the secretary of state's office Tuesday.
Pan moved into the 9th Assembly District after California's once-a-decade redistricting process drew Assembly boundaries that would have forced him to butt heads this year with fellow Democratic Assemblyman Roger Dickinson in the adjoining 7th Assembly District.
Pan and Dickinson both live within the Sacramento Senate district of Darrell Steinberg, leader of the upper house, who must leave the Legislature in 2014 under California's term limits.
Doug Herman, Pan's political strategist, said that opening the new Senate committee allows the two-term assemblyman to raise funds for a possible candidacy but does not commit him to seek Steinberg's seat.
Meanwhile, Pan, a medical doctor by profession, will work hard for the people of the 9th Assembly District, Herman said. He represents an area from Sacramento's Pocket community to Lodi. He was elected to a two-year term and can seek re-election in 2014, if he opts not to run for the upper house.
"He's going to continue working as hard as he can to keep families safe and healthy, the same thing he has done in the Assembly before the election," Herman said.
"It's important that he continue to follow through on his promises and his commitments - and he intends to do that," Herman said. "Nothing has changed from that."
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