Tight race for Valley seat on council
Election is technically nonpartisan, but Democrats see chance to grab a spot long held by Republicans.
Former City Hall aide John Lee had a narrow lead Tuesday over astrophysicist and college educator Loraine Lundquist in a closely watched race to represent Chatsworth, Granada Hills and other parts of the northwest San Fernando Valley on the Los Angeles City Council.
But with many more votes remaining to be counted, Lundquist said she was prepared for a long night of following the returns and supporters said they were still optimistic about her chances.
Although the race was nonpartisan — no “R” or “D” appeared next to the candidates’ names on the ballot — the special election has mobilized Democrats eager to flip a seat long held by Republicans.
In recent years, the Valley seat has been the only one held by a Republican on a City Council dominated by Democrats. But rising numbers of Democrats and nonpartisan voters in the district, along with thinning numbers of registered Republicans, have generated excitement on the left about
the Valley race.
Lee, a Republican who worked for the last councilman to hold the seat, campaigned on his long history in the district and billed himself as a fiscal conservative who would be a “different voice” on a City Council dominated by Democrats. At his election night party in Porter Ranch, however, Lee said that he had not run a “red versus blue campaign.”
“People care about neighborhood issues,” said Lee campaign senior strategist Pat Dennis. “That’s what they want out of a city council. John grew up here and he was focused on neighborhood issues.”
Lundquist, a Democrat who teaches at Cal State Northridge, pitched herself as a change agent who would disrupt the status quo and break up the long dynasty of City Hall aides assuming the seat.
“When Loraine wins tonight, it’s going to show the city that a wave of change is coming,” said Aura Vasquez, a former DWP commissioner who is running for another seat on the council next year, at the election-night party at the Lundquist campaign headquarters in Chatsworth. “The establishment should be worried.”
The winner will have little time in office before having to defend the seat. Because of the timing of the special election, voters in the district will go to the polls again to choose a council member in March 2020.
“I feel good,” Lee said earlier Tuesday night. “Everyone in this room worked hard and they have been backing me.”
Speaking at her campaign headquarters, Lundquist said, “Regardless of what happens tonight, I think this campaign has shown that when more people come out to vote, what they want is different than the status quo.”
The hottest issue in the Valley race was homelessness. Although there are fewer people living on the streets in the area than in any other L.A. council district, the question of how to confront the crisis has been a pressing one for voters.
Lundquist, who embraces a “housing first” approach, lamented that the council district has failed to spend the money that taxpayers are paying for housing and services. None of the homeless housing funded under Proposition HHH has been approved in the council district. Nor have any of the new “bridge housing” shelters been set up there.
Lee argued that there needs to be more focus on mental health and drug addiction and vowed to push for the repeal of Proposition 47 — a California initiative that downgraded drug possession and some theft crimes to misdemeanors instead of felonies — as part of his plan to address homelessness.
Lundquist also made climate change a key focus of her campaign, energizing environmentalists and progressives in a district that suffered from the Aliso Canyon methane disaster. Lee and his allies argued that her push for L.A.'s Green New Deal would drive up electric bills and eliminate jobs.
The Valley race spurred a deluge of spending from outside groups, which cannot legally coordinate with the candidates but can raise and spend unlimited amounts to back them, funding mailers, online ads and other outreach to voters.
The union that represents most workers at the Department of Water and Power sponsored a committee that spent more than $290,000 to support Lee, bankrolling mailers that accuse Lundquist of having an “extremist agenda.” Lee also benefited from independent spending by business groups and the union that represents Los Angeles Police Department officers.
Lundquist, in turn, benefited from independent spending by a committee funded heavily by hedge fund manager Aaron Sosnick, which spent more than $210,000 in the race and sent out mailers attacking Lee as the candidate of “big oil.”