By Jose Herrera
City News Service
LOS ANGELES (CNS) – Community relations manager Imelda Padilla is the leader as of Wednesday, April 5, in the special election to fill the Los Angeles City Council seat vacated by Nury Martinez, but the race for second place and a spot in a likely runoff is tight between Marisa Alcaraz, Rose Grigoryan and Marco Santana.
By press time Wednesday, April 5, Padilla had 2,288 votes, or 25.55%, according to figures released at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk. Alcaraz was second with 1,723 votes, 19.24%, Grigoryan was third with 1,610 votes, 17.98%, and Santana was fourth with 1,568 votes, 17.51%.
Small business owner Issac Kim was the only other candidate in the field of seven to top 10%, with 1,033 votes, or 11.53%.
If no candidate receives a majority, there will be a runoff between the top two vote-getters, with the deadline to cast ballots on June 27.
The county Registrar’s website reported Wednesday that 9,085 ballots had been counted, the vast majority sent by mail, 8,301 and 784 filled out in person. There are 109,388 constituents registered in District 6, according to the registrar. It’s estimated there were another 3,600 mail-in ballots waiting to be tallied as well as 95 conditional voter registration ballots and five provisional ballots.
Furthermore, “the number of outstanding Vote by Mail ballots will increase as the RR/CC continues to accept ballots that are postmarked by Election Day and received through Tuesday, April 11,” said Mike Sanchez, media and communications representative for the Registrar Recorders Office.
The next update to the vote count is scheduled to be announced Friday afternoon.
Council District 6 consists of Van Nuys, Arleta, Lake Balboa, Panorama City, Sun Valley and the eastern portions of North Hills and North Hollywood.
Turnout was low, with 9,085 registered voters casting ballots or 7.67% of the 109,388 voters registered in District 6. There were 8,301 ballots from voters by mail and 784 ballots from in-person vote centers.
Padilla has pledged to prioritize “an immediate solution to the unhoused crisis because what is currently occurring is not working.”
“I will propose an emergency remediation of encampments, connecting the unhoused population to essential services that will support them in finding housing, employment, and health services,” Padilla said on her campaign’s website.
“I will work cohesively with all stakeholders, residents, nonprofit organizations, religious leaders, business owners and health organizations to develop and implement sensible hyper-local solutions that make our communities safer, sanitary, and sustainable,” she added.
The 35-year-old Padilla was born in Van Nuys and raised in Sun Valley, graduating from Roscoe Elementary School, Byrd Middle School and Polytechnic High School. She received a bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley and a master’s degree from Cal State Northridge.
Alcaraz, deputy chief of staff and environmental policy director to Ninth District Councilman Curren Price, touts several accomplishments, such as crafting LA’s “Hero Pay” law to protect and honor frontline workers during the height of the coronavirus pandemic. She is 38.
“I’m encouraged and hopeful by the results this evening from the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk,” Alcaraz posted on social media Tuesday night. “We anxiously await the next update expected Friday afternoon.”
Grigoryan, a social activist and journalist who immigrated from Armenia a decade ago, promises to advocate for permanent supportive housing for the unhoused, more affordable housing units and work to eliminate food insecurity. She is 37.
Santana, a housing nonprofit director who has worked for former state Sen. Bob Hertzberg and Rep. Tony Cardenas, said his focus would be addressing homelessness, public safety and environmental justice. He is 32.
Martinez represented the district until October, when she resigned first her council presidency and then, two days later, her seat altogether. Her resignation came in the wake of Martinez being caught making racist comments in a meeting that was secretly taped and leaked to the news media.
Former Councilman Gil Cedillo was also in that meeting, along with Councilman Kevin de León and Ron Herrera, president of the LA County Federation of Labor. Herrera also resigned his post, while Cedillo ultimately left the council at the end of his term after losing his bid for re-election in June.
De León has defied continued calls for his resignation but has been stripped by the council of major committee assignments and largely shunned by council colleagues.
The district is being overseen by a nonvoting caretaker, the city’s chief legislative analyst, Sharon Tso. A nonvoting caretaker does not hold a seat on the council but oversees the council office to make sure the district provides constituent services and other basic functions.
The winner of the special election will finish Martinez’s term, which ends in December 2024.