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LA ELECTION 2024 - From a political perspective the results were mixed on Primary Day as some races are headed to runoff’s while the status quo was confirmed on the LA Board of Supervisors with all three incumbents Mitchell, Hahn and Barger all coasting to easy victories with minimal and nominal opposition except in the case of former LA Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who failed to make a serious bid against the term-limited Hahn, a former LA city councilwoman and member of the US House of Representatives.
While as of this writing the $6.3 billion dollar bond measure known as Proposition #1 maintains a very slim lead even with the support of Governor Gavin Newsom, many found the question somewhat confusing and thus the divided results which remain in doubt.
Conversely, the $3 billion dollar HLA Mobility Plan to construct hundreds of miles of bicycle lanes and road diets received voter approval despite public safety opposition from the Los Angeles Fire Department as a huge financial commitment will be made under the guise of pedestrian safety in a place where mass transportation is minimal, unreliable and not embraced by the public at-large.
In the case of the race to succeed the late Diane Feinstein in the US Senate, Congressman Adam Schiff appears poised to assume both the unexpired and six-year term as his opponent come the fall will be former Los Angeles Dodger and San Diego Padre icon Steve Garvey, the 75-year old first-time GOP candidate for public office.
Garvey squeezed by Congresswoman Katy Porter of Orange County, all but assuring that Schiff will be the new junior senator from California.
Voters have not selected a Republican for the US Senate since the days of Pete Wilson nor a Republican statewide since Arnold Schwarzenegger. Because of the open “jungle” primaries here in California, Republicans rarely are able to field a candidate in November, but in the case of Garvey, he will make an uphill bid to upset Schiff, long a congressional agitator of Donald Trump who served as a house manager during the impeachment process.
In the city council races, incumbent Kevin De Leon (CD-14) is locked into a battle for another term with Ysabel Jurado, as they both received roughly 24% of the vote.
Miguel Santiago finished third with 21%.
“KDL” is still trying to recover from those “hot mic” recorded comments that ended the career of former council president Nury Martinez. The former president of the California state senate, De Leon ironically competed for the Democratic nomination against Feinstein six years ago, but failed to carry his own legislative district.
Despite the outcries of resignation, De Leon battles on to save his political career and seat on the all-powerful, fifteen member city council.
In CD-2 Adrin Nazarian was leading with 38% of the vote over Jillian Burgos and in CD-10, Heather Hutt was also leading with the same 38% over Grace Yoo.
For while controversial incumbent, LA County District Attorney George Gascon received 24% of the vote for a first-place finish, his numbers are incredibly weak as the field consolidates to just two from a dozen, and with 76% of the electorate selecting someone else, a second term for Gascon is clearly in peril.
After two attempted recalls, the far-left Democrat finds himself in a runoff with Nathan Hochman, a criminal law attorney who ran previously as a Republican candidate for California Attorney General in 2022 could not be a more clear contrast in personality, politics and philosophy.
Now an independent, Hochman sees himself as non-partisan and seeks to depoliticize the office of District Attorney.
Hochman showcases the endorsement of former LA DA Steve Cooley as well as former US Attorney Nicola Hanna.
Gascon seemingly would rather discuss partisan allegiances and alliances versus his controversial time as DA, as this race will be a fight to the finish with the expectation that most of the defeated primary hopefuls will endorse Hochman over the incumbent as it seems there collective public safety and tough on crime records fall more in-line with the remaining challenger.
While Gascon wants to make this race about party affiliation, Hochman will focus on issues such as a rising crime rate and a sense that LA remains unsafe. With a Trump/Biden rematch self-evident, Gascon will in all probability link his opponent to a Republican presidential nominee that is toxic with most LA county voters.
Several judicial races saw the smell of partisan overtures as public defender Ericka Wiley finished first against deputy district attorney Renee Rose of Pasadena. Wiley rolled out several big time endorsements such as US Congresswoman Maxine Waters, the longtime lion of the left while Rose focused on judicial temperament and endorsements from current members of the bench. Wiley edged out Rose 46.3% to 44.5% or some 20,000 votes out of nearly one million cast.
They will square-off again minus Malik Burroughs who finished third.
In another race where a public defender won outright was Kimberly Repecka defeating incumbent Emily Spear by a 50.4% to 49.6% or just 7,744 votes out of 1,027,164 cast.
Repecka also showcased her liberal Democratic credentials as public defenders are now emerging as winnable judicial challengers and alternatives to prosecutors and district attorneys.
I interviewed both Wiley and Rose as well as Repecka in previous articles on the judicial races for the March 5th contest.\
But the race that best reflects the partisan divide is LA Council District 4, where incumbent Councilmember Nithya Raman was just declared the winner today over Ethan Weaver with Levon Baronian, a NASA engineer trailing with 11%.
Raman, who knocked off incumbent David Ryu in 2020 with 52% of the vote, was a victim of big dollar donors such as the LA Police Protective League and the deep pockets of the powerful apartment lobby and other real estate interests, that poured more than $1 million into defeating the incumbent.
“It's the kind of spending that splits the city apart at a time when more than anything else, we need to come together and do the hard work to get people into housing,” Raman said on election night.
For the race by Weaver was in many ways a carbon copy of the 2022, 52-48% victory of Traci Park (CD-11), the obscure and unknown political entity at the time that came out of a crowded field of eight to finish second to fellow Venice attorney Erin Darling, who had a spotty record during his tenure on the Venice Neighborhood Council and the perceived hand-picked candidate of the woefully and politically damaged incumbent Mike Bonin who dropped out of the race for alleged health reasons, but sources at the time indicated that Bonin was polling in the single-digits and could not possibly win a third and final term.
For the ambitious and hard-charging Park, who outworked the entire field despite little community involvement, entered the race early while other more notable candidacies waited to see if Bonin would run again. Park also garnered momentum from the second Bonin recall effort that drew considerable support in Venice, where she resides. While the recall failed to gather the required signatures, the volume of support it did receive spelled the end of Bonin’s time on the city council thanks to his unpopular and devastatingly failed policies when it came to homelessness, especially in Venice that became ground zero for this unhoused crisis.
A former Republican with no Democratic Party backing, Park carefully and successfully cultivated the endorsement of police and fire unions as well as the powerful apartment lobby. Park also garnered support from numerous private sector unions and was clearly the right-of-center alternative to Darling, who was unable to shake the stench of a Bonin endorsement that left his candidacy rudderless in the fall runoff, unfairly attacking Park as defending racism in a client lawsuit, and that strategy backfired with voters.
Ironically, Bonin endorsed Raman’s 2024 reelection win in a February article that appeared in The Nation.
2022 mayoral candidate and billionaire developer Rick Caruso also endorsed the vanquished Weaver as he seems to be contemplating a second run for mayor come 2026 in this pull for political power from the hard left and competing moderate middle.
For philosophical makeup of this body will in many ways determine the future direction of city politics as well as the impending reforms that could expand the size of this council.
For the defeat of Chris Darden to many was the biggest judicial surprise of the evening, as his strong name ID and long public service in the LA District Attorney’s Office would propel him to a seat on the bench. Darden, is long known for his role in the prosecution of OJ Simpson which ended in a verdict of not guilty. Long regarded as the trial of the century, Simpson would be found responsible for the deaths of his ex-wife Nicole Brown-Simpson and Ron Goldman in a civil judgement that awarded the families some $33,500,000 in damages in 1994.
(Nick Antonicello is a 31-year resident of Venice who covered the 2024 March Primary election. Nick is a regular contributor to CityWatchLA.com. Have a take or a tip all things politics? Contact Antonicello via e-mail at [email protected].)
