First, Santa Ana native and community activist Karina Onofre told audience members that her top priorities are luring businesses to California and increasing educational access.
If elected, the 31-year-old said, she would push to keep new businesses from having to pay corporate taxes for 11 years.
Onofre, the only woman in the field, also pledged to bring a feminine touch to Orange County's Assembly delegation.
"Men and women are wired differently," she said. "When there are women, they regulate. We need a strong, conservative woman to regulate."
As a Latina and a former Democrat who "saw the light," Onofre said she represented the future of the Republican Party. She added that she planned to prove wrong those who doubt that there's a place for "beautiful women" in politics, citing Sarah Palin as a positive example.
Next, Newport Councilman Keith Curry outlined his history working in Republican politics, from the time he heard anti-tax activist Howard Jarvis speak to his time serving in the Reagan administration as an assistant to the federal transit administrator.
He stressed that he would work to lower taxes — echoing Onofre's concerns that California was scaring businesses out of the state with over-taxation and regulation.
Curry, 58, added that he would safeguard the provisions of Proposition 13, the 1978 voter-approved initiative that put limits on property taxes and required a two-thirds vote for any future tax hikes.
"I'm the guy who's going to protect Prop. 13," he said. "I'm going to make sure they don't take away the protections we voted for."
