LOS ANGELES (CNS) — As expected, the push toward a November runoff in the Los Angeles mayoral race now begins after billionaire real estate developer Rick Caruso and Rep. Karen Bass finished first and second, respectively, in the primary election held Tuesday, June 7.
The pair easily topped a wide field of candidates, with City Councilmember Kevin de León finishing a distant third, followed by community activist Gina Viola.
Caruso and Bass, D-Los Angeles, were the clear front-runners throughout the campaign, with a November head-to-head runoff a virtual certainty.
Caruso — with a hefty self-funded campaign — had held out some hope of winning the race outright on Tuesday by collecting more than 50% of the vote. But Bass maintained a strong support base, and even moved ahead of Caruso in a poll released just ahead of election day.
Caruso led the way as election results came in Tuesday night, but he was well short of the 50% mark.
Caruso spoke to supporters Tuesday night at his most well-known development, The Grove.
“This is a great night because so many people have gone to the voting booth and they sent a message: we are not helpless in the face of our problems,” he said.
“We will not allow the city to decline. We will no longer accept excuses. We have the power to change the direction of Los Angeles, and that’s the way we’re voting.”
Bass, speaking at the W Hotel in Hollywood at about the same time Caruso was making his remarks, told supporters, “Now we don’t have the final numbers yet, but let me tell you, I have a feeling we’re going to do very well tonight.
“Tonight, we’re seeing the voters make a clear choice. They want leadership that is battle-tested, mission-driven and always fights for LA’s values. Tonight the city will see that it’s hard to defeat a people power campaign.”
Los Angeles City Council members Bob Blumenfield and Monica Rodriguez were on track to secure another term, while Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell appeared headed for a runoff with labor organizer Hugo Soto-Martinez.
Blumenfield and Rodriguez faced only one challenger in their Tuesday primaries, causing the elections to be decided during this election instead of a November runoff between the top two candidates.
Blumenfield was easily outpacing his opponent, Child Development Institute Board Member Scott Silverstein, in District 3, which includes neighborhoods in the southwest San Fernando Valley.
Rodriguez was pulling in a similarly solid majority for the 7th District in the northeastern San Fernando Valley, topping community advocate and former president of the Pacoima Neighborhood Council, Elisa Avalos.
But 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 and Soto-Martinez — a labor organizer for the union that represents hotel workers — with neither coming close to topping the 50% margin needed to avoid a November showdown.
In the local Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) races, Board of Education member Nick Melvoin easily won re-election, and while fellow incumbent Kelly Gonez bested a pair of opponents in Tuesday’s election, she was short of the mark needed to avoid a November runoff.
Melvoin easily outpaced two challengers — electrical engineer
Gentille Barkhardarian and teacher Tracey Schroeder — to retain his District 4 seat, which represents parts of the San Fernando Valley and West Los Angeles and stretches south to Westchester. Melvoin had a major advantage in fundraising and was anticipated to easily win another term.
Gonez was also considered a favorite in District 6, which includes areas such as Sun Valley, San Fernando, Mission Hills, Panorama City and North Hollywood. As the vote tally continued Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning, Gonez was just short of the 50% mark needed to avoid a November runoff.
It was unclear how many ballots might still remain to be tallied in the district, and whether it would impact the outcome when the vote in finalized in the coming days. But barring any change in the coming days as vote-counting concludes,
Gonez will square off in November against high school teacher Marvin Rodriguez.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva’s bid for a second term will move to a November runoff election against former Long Beach police Chief Robert Luna, with the pair jumping to distant leads, 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.
Monica Rodriguez “won” only because rich donors poured money into her campaign while Elisa Avalos stayed loyal to the community by relying on small donors. On Election Night, Rodriguez took photos and celebrated with many of the wealthy real estate brokers who supported her campaign. It is clear who Rodriguez truly represents and where her anti-Whiteman Airport vendetta comes from: the developers seeking to steal and profit from the airport’s land. The rich won, CD7 lost.