the 46th district includes the los angeles neighborhoods of boyle heights, little tokyo, westlake, vernon and part of south los angeles. pérez succeeded fabian núñez, the former assembly speaker who was forced out by term limits as the district's assemblyman. pérez faced only a little-known primary challenger in the race to succeed núñez, winning convincingly. in the general election held on november 4, 2008, he won 85% of the vote.