Last call

With ballots landing in mailboxes across the Conejo and Las Virgenes valleys, the race to represent California's 42nd Assembly District has entered its final stretch — and for Agoura Hills voters, the choice is personal: their own mayor pro tem, Democrat Deborah Klein Lopez, is on the ballot against Republican Ted Nordblum for the seat being vacated by longtime Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin.

Voters have until Nov. 3 to return their ballots, and as The Acorn (Agoura Hills) reported, roughly three-quarters of L.A. County voters are expected to cast ballots by mail, with an even higher share in Ventura County. The district, which spans both counties, includes Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Westlake Village, Malibu, Thousand Oaks, Moorpark, Simi Valley and parts of Camarillo.

The stakes are unusual this cycle: the seat is open for the first time in more than a decade. Irwin, a Democrat, has held the post since 2014 and has served all six terms permitted under California's term-limit law. She is now running for the 26th Congressional District following Rep. Julia Brownley's retirement, facing Republican Sam Gallucci.

A hometown candidate versus a repeat challenger

Klein Lopez's candidacy marks her first run for state office. An Agoura Hills resident who serves on the City Council — she was elected one day before the 2018 mass shooting at the Borderline Bar and Grill in neighboring Thousand Oaks, a moment she has cited as shaping her approach to public safety — she has built her campaign around local government experience.

Nordblum, a medical-device business owner, is making his third bid for the district, having run unsuccessfully against Irwin in 2022 and 2024.

The sharpest contrasts between the two emerged at an Oct. 1 candidate forum co-hosted by the Ventura County League of Women Voters and the American Association of University Women's Thousand Oaks branch, held in the Thousand Oaks City Council chambers. Moderator David Maron posed questions submitted by audience members on immigration, climate and gun policy.

Immigration splits the field

Asked whether ICE should "work with local law enforcement to pick up criminals," the candidates offered fundamentally different visions.

"I would continue with the ICE things," Nordblum said, distinguishing his concern from people covered by DACA and so-called Dreamers. "I'm talking about the illegal immigrants that are basically just here to create havoc and chaos and they are not here to contribute to society."

Klein Lopez called the federal agency "out of control" and "not well trained," and argued for new guardrails.

"ICE in its current format is really terrorizing our communities and tearing families apart. It's affecting our schools, it's affecting our businesses, and so I think it needs to be reined in," she said. "I'm all for border control, I'm all for normal guardrails on ensuring violent criminals are not let loose in our society, but what's happening now is the targeting of innocent families."

For Agoura Hills residents, the issue resonates locally, with both candidates pointing to effects on schools and businesses across the district — though their prescriptions point in opposite directions.

Climate and wildfire

On climate, Klein Lopez tied the issue directly to the region's lived experience with wildfire, citing the Palisades Fire and other recent blazes as evidence that fires are "happening more frequently because of climate change." She argued California should do more, not less, pointing to the state's shift toward clean energy and noting it has drawn "pushback from the Trump administration."

Nordblum countered that climate change has occurred naturally for millions of years — "we've had five ice ages" — and said current climate policy reflects "an agenda," arguing that "you control the water, you control the food, you control the population." He called solar power "a $10 trillion boondoggle that failed" and emphasized petroleum's ubiquity in everyday products, from clothing to electronics.

The exchange underscores how wildfire preparedness — a perennial concern for hillside communities like Agoura Hills — has become entangled with broader disagreements over state energy policy.

Guns and Borderline's long shadow

Gun policy produced perhaps the most emotionally grounded exchange of the evening. Klein Lopez recalled being elected to the Agoura Hills council the day before the Borderline shooting, which killed 12 people in Thousand Oaks.

"It is something that was absolutely so incredibly tragic for this community. And it's been repeated in community upon community upon community across the nation," she said, adding that California's gun violence restraining order law, had it been in place before the attack, "could have possibly saved 12 lives." She described herself as "a big believer in responsible, reasonable gun violence reduction laws."

Nordblum, who said he holds a permit to carry a concealed firearm and has been shooting since age 10, said existing gun laws are "okay" but shift "with whoever is in power at the moment."

"I believe in our Constitution. I believe in our Bill of Rights. I think that's absolute," he said. "We can't change it, so we need to be safe with it."

What comes next

For Agoura Hills voters, the practical to-do list is simple but time-sensitive: ballots must be returned by Nov. 3, and with the district spanning two counties, residents should confirm their drop-off locations or mailbox pickup times with the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder or Ventura County Elections Division, depending on where they live. Voters can also track their ballot through California's official "Where's My Ballot" system.

Whoever wins will inherit a district still grappling with wildfire recovery, housing costs and insurance availability — issues that have dominated local politics in the Conejo and Las Virgenes valleys since the devastating fire seasons of recent years. The winner will be sworn in when the new legislative session convenes in Sacramento and will face a state budget process next year shaped by those same pressures.

The Nov. 3 outcome will also answer a question Agoura Hills residents don't often get to ask: whether their mayor pro tem becomes their voice in the state Assembly — or hands the seat, for the first time in over a decade, to the other party.