Today, voters in California's 37th, a district that includes parts of Long Beach extending up to Compton and much of South Los Angeles, will be going to the polls to elect a new representative to congress. The seat has been vacant since the death of Democratic Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald of cancer in April. The seat is safe Democratic.

There are 18 candidates on the ballot but 2 have emerged as the front-runners: state Senator Jenny Oropeza and Assemblywoman Laura Richardson (Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald's daughter Valerie McDonald is running as well but is far behind in money and endorsements.)

There are a couple of interesting dynamics at play. First, there's race. The diverse district has traditionally been represented in Congress by an African-American but this year, with the strength of Sen. Oropeza's campaign, we may see the first hispanic elected from this district, signaling the growing influence of the hispanic electorate in Southern California. Hispanics make up 20% of CA-37 voters, while 25% are black. The LA Times cites a poll that shows that Oropeza, an hispanic, may benefit from the presence of Valerie McDonald in the race, as she and Richardson, both African-American, may split the black vote.

Another dynamic that is at play here is the influence of tribal gaming money vs. the old fashioned on the ground organizing that comes with labor support. Juls at calitics has the story:

State Senator Jenny Oropeza, as dday detailed on Saturday, has been the beneficiary of over $270,000 in independent spending from the Morongo Band of Mission Indians.  The tribe has dropped mailers, door hangers, newspaper ads and called voters in a push to repay Oropeza for voting for the massive gaming expansion. That vote was one factor for the LA County Labor Federation's support of Assemblywoman Laura Richardson. They are spending their money on member to member communication, urging the members of their local affiliated unions to vote for Richardson.

Oropeza's vote to expand the number of slot machines at the Morongo Casino was widely seen as a swipe at labor because the compacts do not include provisions to allow workers to fully organize and collectively bargain.

While Oropeza enjoys support from the Morongo tribe and the California Democratic Party, as well as local hispanic groups, Richardson has the backing of Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) and the California Legislative Black Caucus in addition to the influential LA County Labor Federation. The race is considered too close to call.

Polls close at 8pm tonight and the winner must take 50% of the vote to avoid an August 21 run-off.

Update [2007-6-26 17:13:24 by Todd Beeton]: Thanks to dblhelix in the comments for clarifying that the run-off in August (if necessary) will be between the top vote getters of each party. In other words, today's winner will be the next representative from CA-37.

And on the racial make-up of the district, from The Hill:

The district...[has] 25 percent black registered voters to 22 percent Latinos, Jeffe said. She also noted that Latinos are 43 percent of the district’s population to 25 percent for blacks. Turnout is expected to be as low as 10 percent today.