Bill Filante

Career

Thanks to his moderate voting record, Filante became a pro at winning crossover votes, enough to hold his left-leaning seat with relative ease for 7 terms. He left the Assembly in 1992 to run for Congress

Filante made a run for the Marin county-based 6th Congressional district being vacated by Democrat Barbara Boxer, who was running for the United States Senate. However, just before the start of the campaign, Filante underwent brain surgery and spent most of the race recuperating.

Fellow Grand Old Party assemblywoman Bev Hansen often served as his surrogate.

Filante died of a brain tumor later that December.

Achievements

• Filante first won election to the Marin-Sonoma based 9th district in the California in 1978 by defeating Democratic incumbent Mike Wornum. Even though the 6th District was heavily Democratic, Filante had represented a large chunk of it in the state legislature for 14 years and tried to parlay his moderate reputation into a win. In the end, Democrat Lynn Woolsey won handily.