A fellow Democrat will oppose Long Beach’s state senator, Alan Lowenthal, in the race for California lieutenant governor.  Dean Florez, a state senator from the unfortunately—and hopefully not appropriately—named town of Shafter, will announce his candidacy for the office this afternoon at 2.

The news comes from the Sacramento Bee’s Capitol Alert site, which by the way is a great place to go for still-comprehensive coverage of state politics in an era when most news outlets are shrinking their presence in that area.

Anyway, Florez is holding his coming out party on his campaign Web site (www.deanflorez.com) and will taking questions from online visitors.

Last thing: incumbent Lt. Gov. John Garamendi has his eyes on the governor’s office, although he’s eligible to run for re-election.

Tags: Alan Lowenthal, California Lieutenant Governor, Dean Florez, John Garamendi