Carchio eyes Assembly seat

Huntington Beach Mayor Joe Carchio said he is strongly considering running for the newly formed 72nd Assembly District but hasn’t officially declared his candidacy.

Carchio plans to appear along with other potential candidates at a Nov. 17 forum hosted by the Fountain Valley Republican Assembly. Assembly President John W. Briscoe said he hadn’t initially planned to invite Carchio, but asked him to attend when a source informed him that the mayor intended to run.

Carchio, reached by phone Wednesday, acknowledged that he would appear at the forum but said he had yet to formally launch a campaign.

“There is a strong possibility that I will be in the race, but I haven’t made my final decision yet,” he said.

Carchio, who first won a spot on the council in 2006, was the only incumbent in last year’s election.

Another Huntington Beach councilman, Matthew Harper, has officially declared his candidacy for the 72nd District, which the California Citizens Redistricting Commission created this year. Westminster Councilman Tyler Diep has also announced his candidacy for the new district, which contains areas of Huntington Beach, Garden Grove, Westminster, Fountain Valley, Seal Beach, Santa Ana, Los Alamitos, Rossmoor, Midway City and Sunset Beach.

Briscoe said the Nov. 17 event, which does not have a set location yet, is intended to be a casual opportunity for voters to meet prospective candidates.

“We’re not calling it a debate,” he said. “What I’m going to tell them is I want hear your views, what your background is, why you’d be a good assemblyman, not why someone else wouldn’t make a good assemblyman. We want to keep it positive.”

Briscoe, who uses his middle initial to avoid confusion, is not the John Briscoe who serves on the Ocean View School District school board.

michael.miller@latimes.com

Twitter: @MichaelMillerHB