City Council incumbents defend seats

Too early to call races in which 31 candidates battled it out for posts on arguably the most powerful civic council in U.S.

Seven of the 15 Los Angeles City Council seats were up for election on Tuesday with all but one race featuring an incumbent.

Los Angeles has just under 4 million residents, and with only 15 councilmembers, each council district represents nearly 265,000 people, making it arguably the most powerful city council in the nation.

All told, six incumbents and 25 challengers whose names appeared on ballots battled it out for one of the seven open seats during this primary election.

Only candidates who receive more than 50% of the vote will win their races and avoid a runoff election. Otherwise, the top two finishers in each race will advance to the November general election.

While some voters cast their ballots ahead of Tuesday, others waited until election day. For some races, the results may not be known for several days or weeks, as votes are still being counted.

After polls closed at 8 p.m., the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk's office released its initial vote count, which reflected vote-by-mail ballots the office received before election day. A second wave of results was to include ballots cast in person before election day.

Here's a look at where the races stood just after the polls closed Tuesday.

District 2

Former Assemblymember Adrin Nazarian had the early lead in this seven-person race to replace Council President Paul Krekorian, who could not seek reelection due to term limits. With 40% of the vote, Nazarian led the pack. Sam Kbushyan, principal of a public affairs firm, was in second place with 22% while North Hollywood Neighborhood Council member Jillian Burgos was third with 14%.

Others in the race include therapist Jon-Paul Bird, attorney Marin Ghandilyan, TreePeople policy director Manny Gonez and Rudy Melendez, who works in

Hollywood's film industry.

This San Fernando Valley seat represents residents in North Hollywood, Studio City, Sun Valley, Toluca Lake, Valley Glen, Valley Village and Van Nuys.

District 4

Councilmember Nithya Raman, with 46% of the vote, had the early lead over Deputy City Attorney Ethan Weaver, who had 42%. A third candidate, software engineer Levon Baronian, had 11%.

The candidates are duking it out to see who will represent a district that stretches from San Fernando Valley to Silver Lake and includes the Santa Monica Mountains, Los Feliz, the Hollywood Hills, Sherman Oaks, Encino and Van Nuys.

District 4 was heavily impacted by the city's 2021 redistricting process, in which City

Council boundaries were redrawn. As a result of the new maps, Raman lost 40% of the constituents she represented prior to the redistricting.

District 6

Incumbent Imelda Padilla, first elected in a special election last June, had a solid lead over two other candidates for this East San Fernando Valley seat. Early results showed Padilla with 80% of the vote. Real estate broker Ely De La Cruz Ayao had 11% while respiratory care practitioner Carmenlina Minasova had 9%.

The 6th District includes the communities of Arleta, Lake Balboa, North Hollywood, North Hills, Panorama City, Van Nuys and Sun Valley.

District 8

Incumbent Marqueece Harris-Dawson, who is seeking his third and final term on the council, had a commanding lead over his two opponents, with 82% of the vote. Cliff Smith, the business manager for Roofers Union Local 36, had 12%, while real estate broker Jahan Epps had 6%.

District 8 includes parts of South L.A. and spans from Baldwin Hills to the border of Watts. Neighborhoods include Vermont Knolls, King Estates, Canterbury Knolls, Park Mesa Heights, Baldwin Hills, Hyde Park, Chesterfield Square, Vermont Vista, Green Meadows, View Heights and West Park Terrace.

District 10

Appointed incumbent Heather Hutt, with 37% of the vote, had the early lead. Community advocate and former city commissioner Grace Yoo was second with 31%. Eddie Anderson, senior pastor at McCarty Memorial Church, was third with 13%.

The other candidates in the race are Aura Vásquez, a community organizer and former Los Angeles Board of Water and Power commissioner, with 12%, and Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer, who had 6%.

District 10 represents a swath of L.A. stretching from Koreatown and Mid-City in Central Los Angeles to Baldwin Hills, the Crenshaw District and Leimert Park in South L.A.

District 12

Councilmember John Lee was ahead of former L.A. City Ethics Commission board president Serena Oberstein in early returns. Lee had 62% of the vote to Oberstein's 38%.

Lee is contesting an accusation by Ethics Commission staff that he violated ethics rules several years ago for allegedly receiving gifts in excess of the gift limit for city officials while chief of staff to then-Councilmember Mitch Englander, then failing to report those gifts.

Despite that case, Lee continued to be endorsed by the city's police and firefighters unions — two groups that contributed heavily to independent expenditure committees to run ads to benefit the incumbent.

District 12 represents the communities of Chatsworth,

Granada Hills, North Hills, Northridge, Porter Ranch, Sherwood Forest and West Hills in the West Valley.

District 14

Councilmember Kevin de León, who had 29% of the vote, led in the eight-person race based on early returns. Battling it out for the No. 2 spot were Assemblymember Miguel Santiago, with 23% of the vote, and tenant rights attorney Ysabel Jurado, with 17%, and Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo, with 15%.

De León sought reelection despite critics demanding his resignation for his role in a racist audio leak scandal in 2022.

The other candidates in the race are geriatric social worker and professor Nadine Diaz, small-business owner Genny Guerrero, attorney Teresa Hillery and high school science teacher Eduardo “Lalo” Vargas.

District 14 represents much of downtown L.A. as well as Boyle Heights, Lincoln Heights, El Sereno and Northeast L.A.