LA Mayor's Race Heads To Runoff: Hollywood Election Results

HOLLYWOOD, CA — Both the Los Angeles mayor's race and Los Angeles County Sheriff's race are heading toward a runoff election Nov. 8. Both races were marked by frustration with the handling of the homelessness crisis and rising crime rates across the City and County of Los Angeles. Several down-ballot races will also be headed to a runoff election.

Returns show Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villaneuva in a tight race with challenger Robert Luna. Similarly, Rick Caruso had a slim but noticeable lead over Rep. Karen Bass in the race for mayor.

The Associated Press projected that Villanueva would be unable to reach the threshold of more than 50 percent needed to avoid a runoff. Though the majority of ballots still hadn't been tallied Tuesday night, Villanueva was in a tight race with Luna and couldn't statistically get a majority of votes when the counting is done.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Villaneuva and Luna were separated by just under 10 percent of tallied votes. With 822,545 countywide mail-in ballots counted (all 100 percent received through Monday plus 242,187 vote center ballots), Villaneuva garnered 34.38 percent of the vote while Luna trailed with 24.53 percent. Eric Strong was a distant third with 12.55 percent.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Caruso leads Bass by 16,371 votes.

Caruso carries a noticeable lead over Rep. Karen Bass in the race for mayor. With 822,545 countywide ballots counted (580,358 vote-by-mail and 242,187 vote center ballots), Caruso garnered 42.14 percent of the vote while Bass trailed with 36.95 percent as of Wednesday afternoon. Councilman Kevin de Leon trailed with 7.49 percent of early returns.
Caruso received 133,059 votes compared to 116,688 votes for Bass.

Some campaign watchers have pondered whether Caruso — with his mighty self-funded campaign war chest and weeks-long advertising blitz — could win the race outright Tuesday, avoiding the Nov. 8 runoff. But such a result appears to be a longshot, given Bass' strong support base and the overall number of candidates on the ballot.

A dozen names were on the ballot, though several candidates dropped out. Bass, a favorite of the party’s progressive wing, and the Republican-turned-Democrat Caruso easily distanced themselves from the rest of the field.

Bass, who was on then-President-elect Joe Biden’s shortlist for vice president, would be the first woman mayor of Los Angeles and the second Black person to hold the office.

The race largely focused on homelessness and crime. More than 40,000 people live in trash-strewn homeless encampments and rusty RVs, and widely publicized smash-and-grab robberies and home invasions have unsettled residents.

Caruso, 63, who sits on the board of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and was endorsed by the police union, has positioned himself as a centrist outsider running against City Hall’s progressive establishment. He blames Bass, 68, and other longtime incumbents for sprawling homeless encampments that have spread into virtually every neighborhood and concerns about unsafe streets.

His strong performance is an unwelcome sign for Democrats defending their fragile majorities in Congress and in other races around the country.

The last time City Hall veered to the political right was in 1993, when voters turned to Republican businessman Richard Riordan to lead the city in the aftermath of the deadly 1992 riots that erupted after four white police officers were acquitted of assault in the beating of Black motorist Rodney King.

Los Angeles, however, is much changed since Riordan’s days. It’s more Latino, less white and more solidly Democratic. Only 13% of registered voters are Republicans.

Real-time results are below — use the scroll on the right to get to the race of your choice (they are in alphabetical order). Patch will be updating the results throughout the night as votes are tallied — refresh the page for the latest updates

Scroll to the bottom of this story for real-time Los Angeles County election results.

Click here to track your ballot and make sure it is counted.

Early voter turnout was low leading up to election day. Only about 14 percent of Los Angeles registered voters had cast their ballot Monday despite the high-profile mayor's race.

As of April, the California Secretary of State reported that 26,948,297 Californians were registered to vote, which accounts for almost 82 percent percent of the state's eligible voting population.

SEE ALSO:

• Real-Time Results: California Governor Primary Election 2022
• Real-Time Results: California Primary Election 2022

Not surprisingly, there are far more registered Democrats than Republicans in the state, with 46.75 percent for the former and 23.92% for the latter. GOP registration in the state has been dropping steadily, a trend that shows no sign of slowing down even as Republican registration climbed at the national level over the last year.

In the 2020 election, 76 percent of registered voters in Los Angeles cast a ballot, an increase from the 2016 presidential election attributable to the pandemic-era adoption of universal vote-by-mail in California, according to the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s Office. The vast majority of voters cast their ballots by mail that year.

In Los Angeles County, the rate of voter registration is high. As of April, it was 84 percent — with 53 percent of voters registered as Democrats, 17 percent as Republicans and less than 3 percent as American Independents.

Voter turnout was not expected to be as high this primary season, especially without highly competitive statewide races.

Joe Buscaino, Mike Feuer and Ramit Varma appeared on the primary ballot even though they withdrew from the race and endorsed other candidates.

LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL RACES

Los Angeles City Council members Gil Cedillo, Bob Blumenfield, Monica Rodriguez and Curren Price were on track Tuesday evening to secure another term as primary election results were released Tuesday evening, while Councilman Mitch O'Farrell could be headed for a runoff with labor organizer Hugo Soto-Martinez.

Cedillo, Blumenfield, Rodriguez and Price faced only one challenger in the primary, causing the elections to be decided during this election instead of a November runoff with the top two candidates.

As of 8:45 p.m. Tuesday, Cedillo led the vote with 55.99% for Council District 1 -- which includes Glassell Park, Highland Park, Mount Washington, Westlake, Chinatown and Pico-Union. Cedillo faces community activist and public policy advocate Eunisses Hernandez, who received 44.01% of the vote in the initial results.

Blumenfield stood with 68.44% of the vote according to initial results, while his opponent, Child Development Institute Board Member Scott Silverstein, had an initial 31.56%. The district includes neighborhoods in the southwest San Fernando Valley.

Rodriguez initially stood with 71.68% of the vote for the 7th District in the northeastern San Fernando Valley. Her opponent is community advocate and former president of the Pacoima Neighborhood Council Elisa Avalos, who received an initial 28.32%.

Price had an initial 69.19% of the vote for District 9 in South Los Angeles. Dulce Vasquez, director of strategic partnerships for Arizona State University, received 30.81% of the vote as of 8:45 p.m.

The race to represent Council District 13, which includes the neighborhoods of Hollywood, Silver Lake, Echo Park and Atwater Village, appears to be headed for a runoff between incumbent O'Farrell, who received 38.6% of the initial vote, and Soto-Martinez -- a labor organizer for the union that represents hotel workers -- who received 33.97% of the initial vote.

Kate Pynoos, former homelessness policy adviser to Councilman Bonin, received an initial 15.28%. Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff Stephen Johnson received an initial 8.54%, and community organizer and police abolition advocate Al Corado received an initial 3.61% as of 8:45 p.m.

In Council District 5 -- which includes Bel Air, Encino, Westwood, Encino and Fairfax -- Councilman Paul Koretz is termed-out and appears to be heading for a November runoff in his run for city controller.

Katy Young Yaroslavsky -- former senior environment and arts policy deputy for Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl and a daughter-in-law of former Supervisor and Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, who represented the district from 1975-94 -- held an initial majority of the vote, with 50.94% as of 8:45 p.m. If her majority holds, she will avoid a November runoff.

Attorney and small-business owner Sam Yebri held an initial 28.01% of the vote; UCLA School of Law lecturer Jimmy Biblarz followed with 10.75%; and former chair of the Mid City West Neighborhood Council Scott Epstein received 10.31% as of 8:45 p.m.

Bonin, who has represented Council District 11 since 2013, decided not to run for a third term on the City Council, saying he wanted to focus on his mental health.

Initial results for the district show eviction defense and civil rights attorney Erin Darling in the lead with 33.18%, followed by attorney Traci Park with 30.2%. The two appear to be headed for a runoff, with no other candidate received more than 10% of early voting results.

Council District 15, which includes San Pedro, Wilmington and Watts, has four candidates running to replace Councilman Joe Buscaino, who was running for mayor before dropping out of the race in May.

Leading the field in the initial results is Tim McOsker, businessman and chief of staff for then-Mayor James Hahn. McOsker received 40.3% of the initial vote, followed by former Harbor City Neighborhood Council President Danielle Sandoval with 30.26%; businessman and former Port of Los Angeles marketing manager Anthony Santich, with 16.38%; and educator and community organizer Bryant Odega, with 12.62%.

LOS ANGELES SHERIFF'S RACE

Villanueva's bid for a second term will move to a November runoff election against Luna, the former Long Beach Police Department Chief, with the pair jumping to distant leads Tuesday evening according to early ballot results.

Villanueva and Luna topped the nine-person field of candidates as returns trickled in Tuesday night, putting them on pace for the runoff.

Over the past century, only one incumbent sheriff in the county has lost a re-election bid. That was four years ago, when Villanueva achieved a stunning upset of Sheriff Jim McDonnell, riding to an election victory with strong backing from reform-minded community groups and Democrats.

But over the past four years, Villanueva's support among those groups has waned as he repeatedly clashed with the Democrat-dominated Board of Supervisors over funding and policy matters, fought back against claims of "deputy gangs" within the agency, defied subpoenas to appear before the Civilian Oversight Commission and refused to enforce the county's COVID-19 vaccination mandate among his deputies and department employees.

He has openly criticized "progressive" policies and politicians, most notably District Attorney George Gascón, and assailed movements to "defund" law enforcement agencies.

Those stances, however, have helped solidify his support among many of those working for him, exemplified by his endorsement by the Association of Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs.

In a campaign statement, Villanueva's campaign insists he has worked to restore public trust in the sheriff's department, pointing to the rollout of body-worn cameras and boosting minimum requirements for new deputies. The campaign also boasts the agency is "the most diverse in the nation."

"In his next term, Sheriff Villanueva will work to reduce violent crime, compassionately clean up homeless encampments and hold public officials accountable for their actions," according to his campaign.

Speaking to his supporters Tuesday night, Villanueva said he is "focusing on what matters to people -- homelessness and violent crime."

He said he has been "playing eight-on-one basketball" during the campaign, noting that his candidates were all running on anybody-but-him platforms.

"We're going to keep doing what we're doing, because it's the right thing to do," Villanueva said. "... My job is to keep the community safe. If that means I have to battle the Board of Supervisors, so be it."

Luna argued during the campaign that the sheriff's department is being "mismanaged" by Villanueva and said he will work to restore trust in the agency. He also touted his position as an outsider with no connections to the sheriff's department.

"Growing up in East Los Angeles, patrolled by the sheriff's department, opened my eyes to examples of both good and bad policing, and inspired my 36-year career in law enforcement," Luna said in a candidate statement.

He said he will work to "modernize" the sheriff's department and its jail system and improve the mental well-being of deputies and employees.

LOS ANGELES COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

The five-member Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors will get at least one new face by year's end, with state Sen. Bob Hertzberg leading a six-candidate field looking to replace Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, who opted against a reelection bid for her District 3 seat.

Early returns showed Hertzberg with 35.7% of the vote, likely good enough to advance him to a November runoff election. West Hollywood City Councilwoman Lindsey Horvath was running second with 26.1% of the vote, maintaining a roughly 5,000-vote lead over state Sen. Henry Stern, with 22.6%.

The top two vote-getters will advance to November's general election.

The District 3 seat covers a majority of the San Fernando Valley, stretching from Westlake Village and Malibu to Calabasas, West Hills, Porter Ranch, San Fernando, Panorama City and Northridge, while also stretching to West Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Santa Monica.

Others running for the seat -- but eliminated with the release of early returns -- were business owners Roxanne Beckford Hoge, Jeffi Girgenti and Craig Brill. Kuehl threw her support behind Horvath, who was also backed by Supervisors Janice Hahn and Hilda Solis. Supervisor Kathryn Barger endorsed Hertzberg.

The battle was widely anticipated to be a three-horse sprint among Horvath, Stern and Hertzberg, and that prediction played out in the early returns.

Homelessness and public safety were the top issues cited by candidates.

"As a mayor and council member, I have taken action to successfully get 80% of my community's unhoused population off the streets and into housing and services," Horvath wrote in her official candidate statement. "As supervisor, I will get the bureaucracy out of the way, create accountability, and expand partnerships with experts who know how to help people off the streets and into supportive housing."

She also vowed to "prioritize your safety and fight for additional resources to provide care and prevent crime from happening in the first place."

Hertzberg has been in the state Senate since 2014 and previously served in the Assembly, including a stint as Assembly Speaker. He said the Board of Supervisors should have a representative from the San Fernando Valley.

"At the state level, we've sent billions to LA County, but the county has squandered state funding I've worked tirelessly to bring home," he said in his official statement. "Now I'm running for county Supervisor to fix the mess. I will take responsibility for solving emergencies like homelessness, crime, housing, and mental health -- and make sure county government gets the job done."

Stern, an environmental attorney, has been in the state Senate since 2016. He also cited homelessness and public safety as leading issues, pointing to an audit of the county's homelessness and mental health system that found what he called $1 billion in "bottlenecked taxpayer funds."

He also condemned what he called "a vicious cycle of hospitalization and incarceration for unhoused Angelenos facing mental illness and addiction."

"Los Angeles has been offered a false choice: between safer streets and an anti-racist, restorative justice system," according to Stern's website. "Investing in alternatives to incarceration through drug courts, social work, and street medicine should not mean that violent crime is without consequence."

Meanwhile, Supervisor Hilda Solis easily fended off four challengers Tuesday to claim a third -- and final -- term on the board. Her District 1 seat represents an eastern swath of the county, including Monterey Park, Azusa, Pomona, Diamond Bar, Rosemead, West Covina, Highland Park and Lincoln Heights.

Solis is a longtime Los Angeles-area political figure, having served both in the state Assembly and Senate before moving to Congress and later becoming U.S. Secretary of Labor under President Barack Obama.

An incumbent Los Angeles County supervisor hasn't lost a reelection bid for 42 years.

"My priorities continue to be mitigating the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, expanding affordable housing and healthcare for all, creating good- paying local jobs, improving access to parks and open space, enhancing veterans' services, and making our neighborhoods safer through community based crime prevention," Solis said in her official candidate statement.

Challenging her on the ballot were La Puente City Councilman David Argudo, businessman Kevin Dalton, county sheriff's Deputy Brian Smith and businesswoman Tammy Solis.

Also on the ballot, county Assessor Jeffrey Prang was making a reelection bid. Early returns showed him with 48% of the vote, just shy of the 50% mark needed to avoid a November runoff. Deputy county assessor Sandy Sun was running in second place with 25%, with two other deputy assessors -- Mike Campbell and Anthony Lopez -- falling way behind.

LOS ANGELES COUNTY CITY RACES

/p>

For a complete guide to statewide races, see the CalMatters California Election 2022 Voter Guide.

City News Service, The Associated Press and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report