Los Angeles mayoral candidate Rep. Karen Bass increased her small lead over billionaire developer Rick Caruso, L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva conceded in the race to keep his job, and City Council District 5 hopeful Young Yaroslavvsky and others are emerging as potential and clear winners as the electoral vote tally update came in on Tuesday evening.
With the latest vote tally from the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, Bass now leads Caruso with 52.55% of the vote to his 47.45% of the 1.6 million ballots that have been tallied so far. On Monday, the U.S. Congresswoman overtook the developer by around 29,000 votes; now, her lead is closer to 36,000 votes.
The next update on the vote count is expected on Thursday. The results of the election will not be certified until early December and it could be weeks before we see a victor in the race for mayor and several other close contests.
Earlier, as it was achingly clear following Monday’s vote count that Villanueva would not be beating back his challenger, the deeply embattled sheriff conceded the race. Multiple times in his concession speech, the outgoing sheriff insisted that he “always spoke truth to power.” This is despite several lawsuits that allege he lies through his teeth while abusing said power and punishes those who speak out. he lost his first race as a sitting sheriff to former Long Beach Police Chief Robert Luna. At Monday’s count, Villanueva had 40.16% of the vote to Luna’s 59.84%.
“I want to wish the incoming sheriff well,” the outgoing sheriff, who was frequently compared to former President Donald Trump, told the gathered press at a conference held at the Hall of Justice.
Meanwhile, County Measure A, the ballot measure to limit the power of the L.A. County sheriff that was certainly inspired by Villanueva’s behavior while in office, is going to pass. Over 70% of voters said “yes” to the charter amendment allowing the Board of Supervisors the ability to remove a sheriff for cause.
Los Angeles City Council’s 5th District seat is set to be filled by Yaroslavsky after her opponent, Sam Yerbi, also conceded on Tuesday. Yaroslavsky, who is set to replace termed-out Councilman Paul Koretz, led by more than 10,000 votes, with over 58% of the ballots counted so far.
“A lot of people feel disconnected from government, and that’s something that is inaccessible,” Yaroslavsky said. “For me growing up, government was my mom and people like my mom—who used their jobs to help fix problems for people and make things easier and better.”
I am so proud of the campaign we ran. Now, thanks to your support, we are leading by a significant and growing margin. I’m optimistic that I’ll have the privilege of serving as the next Los Angeles City Councilmember representing District 5. pic.twitter.com/oJU6Cw9Qgj
— Katy Young Yaroslavsky (@KatyForLA) November 15, 2022
Long Beach is now set to have its first Black mayor, as Rex Richard beat out City Council member Suzie Price, who also conceded on Tuesday.
“The votes are still being counted in all of the L.A. County races, including Long Beach’s mayor’s race. And, although there remain an unknown number of votes still to be tallied, the trend is going in the wrong direction for our campaign. It appears that the people of Long Beach have spoken and selected Vice Mayor Richardson as our next mayor. I wish him nothing but success on the journey ahead,” Price said.
In a race that may have been impacted by the leaked audio scandal involving the deeply troubled L.A. City Council, challenger Hugo Soto-Martinez, a labor organizer, expanded his lead over incumbent Councilman Mitch O’Farrell for the 13th District council seat to the point that, on Tuesday, O’Farell conceded the race. As of Tuesday, Soto-Martinez is holding about 55.03% of the vote to O’Farrell’s 44.97% of the tally.
L.A. Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell formally conceded this afternoon, confirming he has lost to labor organizer Hugo Soto-Martinez in the race to represent Hollywood, Echo Park, etc pic.twitter.com/xM4Zd6yEvZ
— David Zahniser 🦅 (@DavidZahniser) November 16, 2022
DSA-backed Soto-Martinez said, “We can’t wait to work with you and usher in a new era for Los Angeles.”
In the 11th District, Traci Park remains ahead of Erin Darling, holding 54% to his 46% of the vote so far. And Tim McOsker appears to have won the 15th District, where he holds about two-thirds of the vote over Danielle Sandoval, whose surging campaign was sunk after it was revealed that for years, she’d neglected to pay some wages to members of the staff at a restaurant she had owned.
— Robert Luna (@lunaforsheriff) November 15, 2022
In District 3, which covers the majority of the San Fernando Valley and also stretches to West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and Santa Monica, West Hollywood City Councilwoman Lindsey Horvath continues to widen the gap between her and state Sen. Bob Hertzberg–who had 180,349 votes, or about 48.8% to Horvath’s 189,178 votes, or 51.2%.
City News Service contributed to this article
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