[1] Samuelian defeated Larry Willey in the Republican primary and Richard Martinez, Jr. in the General Election.
During Samuelian's 2002 run for the state assembly, he revealed that in 1998 he had been cited by the police for loitering for the purpose of solicitation of prostitution.
Samuelian later encountered controversy in February 2003, when it was reported that he was again stopped and questioned by police when his vehicle was noted on the same block of the same street as before.
[2] However, in the wake of this incident, Samuelian faced public calls to resign from members of his own party including Clayton Smith,[3][4] his former boss United States Congressman George Radanovich (R), United States Congressman Devin Nunes (R), and Michael Der Manouel, Jr., president of the Fresno County Lincoln Club.
[4][5][6] In December 2003, Samuelian announced that he would not seek re-election in 2004 in order to spend more time with his family.