| Bob Epple | |
| Birth Date: | 18 November 1948 |
| Birth Place: | Los Angeles, California |
| Death Place: | Norwalk, California |
| State Assembly: | California |
| District: | 63rd |
| Term: | November 30, 1988 – November 30, 1994 |
| Preceded: | Wayne Grisham |
| Succeeded: | Phil Hawkins |
| Party: | Democratic |
| Children: | 1 |
Robert "Bob" Epple (November 18, 1948 – April 13, 2011) was an American attorney and politician from California and a member of the Democratic Party.[1] [2]
Epple first ran for elective office in 1980, when he challenged entrenched GOP state senator Bill Campbell in what was then a safe Republican district.[3]
He then served as an elected member of the Cerritos College Board of Trustees from 1981 until 1988, when he ran for the California State Assembly.[4]
Epple challenged incumbent assemblyman Wayne Grisham (R-La Mirada) in the 1988 election.[5] Democrats considered Grisham vulnerable after he lost a special state senate election the year before against then Norwalk councilman Cecil Green within roughly the same geographic area.[6] With help from Sacramento Democrats and Speaker Willie Brown, Epple narrowly defeated Grisham. [7]
Reelected easily in 1990, Epple had a much tougher time in 1992, when he opted to run in the newly drawn 56th Assembly District, based around Cerritos, Bellflower, Downey and part of Long Beach. Although he represented a portion of the new district before reapportionment, he had to move there to seek reelection, mainly to open up a his old Norwalk-based 63rd district (which had been redrawn as a majority-Latino district) for a Latino candidate.[8] He faced conservative businessman Phil Hawkins, in what became one of the most expensive California legislative races that year. Epple managed to only barely beat Hawkins by 542 votes.[9] When they faced off in a rematch two years later, Hawkins beat Epple by more than 10 points in a strong year for Republicans nationally.[10]
In 2004 Epple's wife Cheryl, then an elected member of the Cerritos College Board of Trustees, died suddenly of a heart attack. [11] He replaced her on the board and was reelected in 2005 and 2010.
On April 13, 2011 Epple died after a long battle with leukemia.[12]
| Office | Democrat | Votes | Pct | Republican | Votes | Pct | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | California State Senate District 33 | Bob Epple | align="right" | 49,823 | 27.1% | Bill Campbell | align="right" | 133,740 | 72.9% | ||||||||
| 1988 | California State Assembly District 63 | Bob Epple | align="right" | 48,611 | 50.1% | Wayne Grisham | align="right" | 48,391 | 49.9% | ||||||||
| 1990 | California State Assembly District 63 | Bob Epple | align="right" | 36,728 | 59.6% | Diane Boggs | align="right" | 24,888 | 40.4% | ||||||||
| 1992 | California State Assembly District 56 | Bob Epple | align="right" | 61,330 | 47.8% | Phil Hawkins | align="right" | 60,788 | 47.4% | ||||||||
| 1994 | California State Assembly District 56 | Bob Epple | align="right" | 43,178 | 43.2% | Phil Hawkins | align="right" | 53,535 | 53.5% |