A glass ceiling broke in Los Angeles this week. Congresswoman Karen Bass made history as the first woman to lead the City of Los Angeles. For those who are still recovering from election day, here are some other interesting election results that may not have made your front page:
The City of San Diego has turned true blue. All nine members of the City Council will be Democrats once Tuesday’s winners are sworn in. Mayor Todd Gloria is also a Democrat. A Republican bastion for years, the recent trend has been to the left. The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Editorial Board is already warning City Hall not to become “…a prisoner of ideological groupthink.”
Another interesting race in Southern California – San Diego County has elected Kelly Martinez as Sheriff. She received nearly 60% of the vote. Martinez is currently the County’s Undersheriff and the first Democrat elected to the position in, at least, 50 years. She will also be the first woman to serve as San Diego’s Sheriff.
And yet another first – the City of Long Beach has elected its first black mayor. Rex Richardson defeated his opponent with over 55% of the vote.
West Hollywood may be a great city for partying, but waiting for election results in 2022 is no fun. Twelve candidates ran for three city council seats. Incumbent Lauren Meister has a strong lead for first place. The other two seats are still up for grabs as the candidates play a type of election results musical chairs. Five candidates are within 265 votes of each other – less than 1%.
The County of San Francisco (which is the same as the City of San Francisco, but that’s another peek for another day) has elected Brooke Jenkins to serve a full term as District Attorney. Jenkins was appointed D.A. after the voters recalled Chesa Boudin. Jenkins received 46% of the vote, but after the Ranked-Choice Voting results were released, Jenkins secured her spot.
Across the bay, Alameda County has elected its first black District Attorney, although we didn’t need to wait for the results to know that – both candidates who ran in the November run-off election are black. Civil rights attorney Pamela Price is leading Chief Deputy District Attorney Terry Wiley 51.1% – 49.0%. If Price’s lead holds, this will be a win for the criminal justice reform movement.
Los Angeles County has elected a new sheriff: former Long Beach City Police Chief Robert Luna. Controversial incumbent Sheriff Alex Villanueva was soundly defeated garnering less than 40% of the vote. Four years earlier, Villanueva narrowly defeated incumbent Sheriff Jim McDonnell.