Voters can choose from two decent candidates for California’s 38th State Senate District, businessman Matt Gunderson, a Republican, and Encinitas Mayor Catherine Blakespear, a Democrat. The new district runs along the coast from Mission Viejo to northern San Diego.

In our interview, we found that Blakespear, unlike a lot of Democratic candidates, favors helping small businesses. Unlike many Democrats we interview, she doesn’t reflexively dismiss or denigrate charter schools in discussions of education policy. As the mother of two school-age children, she criticized the excessive school shutdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic. She also backs Proposition 13, the 1978 tax-limitation measure. She thinks more of the state’s record surpluses should be given back to the taxpayers. Her solid experience in local government is a plus.

We do quibble with her on a few policy areas, including her support for the high-speed rail project. However, our main concern is California needs political competition. The California Senate currently comprises just nine Republicans, a superminority among the supermajority 31 Democrats. Blakespear said the Democratic Party has factions within it, which is true enough, and moderates like her can be valuable in constraining the far-left veering of her party.

But when the heat is on, party discipline takes over. If those surpluses evaporate and deficits return, the Democratic supermajority by itself can enact draconian tax increases to pay for the previous largesse.

In our conversation Blakespear came back often to the legality of abortion — even though abortion remains perfectly legal in California under state law and state Supreme Court precedent and there’s no plausible scenario in the foreseeable future where that would change.

Yet Blakespear made a point of attacking Gunderson’s positions on abortion — citing his unwillingness to condemn the overturning of Roe v. Wade — even though he actually identifies as supportive of lawful access to abortion, except for late-term abortions, which is consistent with existing state law. Gunderson told us that, if elected, he would be perhaps the only pro-choice Republican in the California Legislature.

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Gunderson has a strong business background and is well versed in the fundamentals of state finance. The state’s balance sheet remains at least $250 billion in the red, largely because of unfunded state pensions and retiree medical care. Those systems badly need overhauling, something that won’t happen unless Republicans gain more of a foothold in Sacramento.

He also is a big supporter of choice in education, including charters and other nontraditional schools, favoring parent empowerment. And he’s pushing for nuclear power to meet the state’s increasing energy needs. The newest designs, called Generation IV, are totally safe and have been backed by President Biden and other top Democrats.

He’s especially concerned about keeping down the costs of government, the best way to fight inflation at the state level. The bottom line is he would be part of a needed check on one-party government. Republicans certainly have their problems, many self-inflicted. But democracy means competition, not a monopoly by one party.