Supervisors will declare election official on Tuesday
Nearly a month after the final votes were cast, Los Angeles County's June 7 primary election finally began to take on an aura of finality on Friday.
The LosAngeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk announced the certified election results after weeks of updates. A total of 1,620,593 ballots were counted with 28.48% of eligible voters casting ballots, officials said.
On Tuesday, Board of Supervisors is scheduled to declare the election official.
Among the close races, in U.S. House District 37, former L.A. City Councilwoman Jan Perry hung on to second place ahead of Daniel Lee, assuring a place in the runoff on the November ballot.
On Friday, Perry had 17,993 votes (18.45%) compared to Lee's 17,414 (17.86%). Perry will face state Sen. Sydney Kamlager, who led with 42,628 votes (43.72%). A new member of Congress is guaranteed from this central L.A. district. All three candidates are Democrats.
In the City of L.A., after weeks of silence, City Councilman Gil Cedillo conceded defeat in his bid for re-election, with final election tallies confirming an upset victory for community activist and public policy advocate Eunisses Hernandez.
Hernandez prevailed in the District 1 race with 16,108 votes, or 54.04%, while Cedillo collected 13,700 votes, or 45.96%.
Cedillo has been absent from council meetings for the past two weeks.
Hernandez previously proclaimed victory in the race. On social media last week, she wrote, “Now the hard work begins. We must stay rooted in not leaving people behind and uplifting and taking the lead of directly impacted people. We will continue to lead our work with love, compassion, deep strategic analysis and patience.”
The closest race in the municipal election was in the battle to replace Mike Feuer as city attorney. Civil rights attorney Faisal Gill easily topped the field with 24.23% of the vote to advance to the November runoff. But the battle for the second spot in that election remained in doubt until Friday with the final tally.
In the end, financial law attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto emerged victorious by a mere 136 votes over former federal prosecutor Marina Torres. Soto earned 112,978 votes, or 19.9%, compared to Torres' 112,842 votes, or 19.87%.
Here are the current vote counts on other close races, based on updates by the county registrar or the California Secretary of State's Office.
County Supervisor
In the race for the open Third District seat on the L.A.County Board of Supervisors, state Sen. Bob Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, with 105,923 votes (31.08%), will face Lindsey Horvath, a West Hollywood City Council member, in second place with 94,528 (27.74%).
State Sen. Henry Stern, D-Malibu, finished third.
The seat will be vacated by iconic local lawmaker Sheila Kuehl. The district stretches from Malibu and Santa Monica into the eastern and northeastern San Fernando Valley.
County Sheriff
Incumbent Sheriff Alex Villanueva finished on top in the L.A.County Sheriff's race, with 454,556 votes (30.66%) and will face former LongBeach police Chief Robert Luna, who captured 383,181 votes (25.85%). Eric Strong finished third.
Other races
In local races, a winner can elude a November runoff by earning more than 50% of the primary votes. But for statewide races, including Assembly and state Senate, and Congressional races, the top two candidates face each other in November regardless of the gap between candidates.
State Assembly District34: In Southern California's High Desert, two prominent Republican legislators who found themselves sharing the newly formed Assembly District34 will meet one another in a November runoff. Assemblyman Thurston “Smitty” Smith, R-Apple Valley, will face runner-up Assemblyman Tom Lackey, R-Palmdale.
State Assembly District 61: Lawndale Mayor Robert PullenMiles finished first the new 61st District, with Democrat Tina Simon McKinnor, a nonprofit director, still firmly in second. The runoff between the two in the special election will be to replace Autumn Burke in the current 62nd District — after her stunning resignation. As of Friday, PullenMiles had 24,322 votes (38.57%) and McKinnor had 20,478 votes (32.47%). The newly mapped 61st District includes Inglewood, Venice and Hawthorne.
State Assembly District 69: Long Beach City Councilman Al Austin II solidified his hold on second place, with 17,985 votes (26.55%), with third-place candidate Janet Foster getting 12,790 votes (18.88%). Meanwhile, Josh Lowenthal — son of U.S. Rep. Alan Lowenthal — remained ahead with 30,919 votes (45.64%). The district covers almost all of Long Beach, as well as Signal Hill and most of Carson.
State Senate District20: In the race for this newly redrawn Latino-voter majority district — which stretches from Burbank to Pacoima to San Fernando to Canoga Park — Democrat Daniel Hertzberg, son of state Senate Majority leader emeritus and former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg, finished first with 33,449 (30.82%). Democrat Caroline Menjivar finished second with 32,302 votes (29.76%) . Republican Ely De La Cruz Ayao had 27,713 votes, or 25.53%.
U.S. House District 23: Incumbent Republican Rep. Jay Obernolte had a commanding lead over the other two candidates, with 57,422 votes (60.9%). Democrat Derek Marshall nosed out fellow Democrat Victorville Councilwoman Blanca Gomez for second place. This district covers the desert between Antelope Valley and the Nevada border.
U.S. House District 30: G “Maebe A. Girl” Pudlo, who became the first drag performer elected to public office in California by winning a seat on the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council, secured a runoff against power player Rep. Adam Schiff. Schiff finished first, with 62.46%. Runner-up Pudlo earned 12.8%.
State races
• Republican Robert Howell topped Democratic Assemblyman Marc Levine, D-San Rafael, with just 0.1 percentage points separating them in the race for second place in the insurance commissioner's contest. They flip-flopped over the past two weeks in their election standings. Incumbent Democrat Ricardo Lara led with 2,402,270 votes (35.9%).
• Lance Ray Christensen grabbed second place in the race for state superintendent of public instruction, while incumbent Tony Thurmond topped the nonpartisan contest with 2,866,991 votes (45.9%). Christensen had 740,636 votes (11.9%) while Ainye E. Long had 694,213 (11.1%).
• In the attorney general's race, appointed Democratic incumbent Rob Bonta, finished first with 3,737,663 votes (54.4%). Former Assistant U.S. Attorney General Nathan Hochman finished second, just shy of two percentage points ahead of Eric Early.