By Brandon HENSLEY

Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich is running for California State Senate in 2016.

The announcement came on Saturday, at the third annual La Crescenta Valley Republican Women Federated picnic at Two Strike Park. There had been rumblings Antonovich might put his hat in the ring, and his decision was met with enthusiasm from the crowd.

Antonovich will run to fill Democrat Sen. Carol Liu’s seat in the 25^th District.

“It’ll be a tough campaign, but we look forward to addressing issues at the state level that have not been addressed,” Antonovich said after the picnic.

Some of those issues have to do with crime. Antovich mentioned Proposition 47, a measure passed in 2014 which reduced the classification of most “non-serious and nonviolent property and drug crimes” from a felony to a misdemeanor.

He also criticized Assembly Bill 109, enacted in 2011. AB 109 meets the U.S. Supreme Court’s order to reduce prison population in the state’s 33 prisons. It allows for certain criminals to be moved from a state prison so they can be supervised at a local county level.

Antonovich said both Prop. 47 and AB 109 have helped create a crime increase in our county and state.

“Those laws have to be reformed. Crime is skyrocketing and we need leadership to address these issues coming from the county, where we’ve had involvement with the issues firsthand,” he said.

Antonovich also checked off the water crisis and emancipated youth as crucial issues to address.

“We need to have young people with support systems in place to become productive citizens,” he said. “We should be encouraging faith communities to be involved in foster and adoption programs.”

Other speakers at the picnic included Tom Del Beccaro, a candidate for U.S. Senate, and Kathryn Barger, Antonovich’s current chief of staff who is a candidate to succeed him as County Supervisor.

“She needs no on-the-job training and will keep the same policies and staff that I have had and served them so well,” Antonovich said of his endorsement of Barger.