Los Angeles City Council members Imelda Padilla, Marqueece Harris-Dawson and John Lee – representing Districts 6, 8 and 12, respectively – appeared likely to win their primary races and avoid a runoff election, based on the L.A. County registrar’s office’s first post-election day update on Wednesday, March 6.
Three other incumbents – councilmembers Nithya Raman, Heather Hutt and Kevin de León in Districts 4, 10 and 14 respectively – were leading in their races. But the winner may not be decided until the November general election.
And in District 2, former Assemblymember Adrin Nazarian, with 38.1% of the vote, had a nearly 20-percentage-point lead over the next candidate – though still short of winning outright.
If no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote in their council district, the top two vote-getters in the district will face off in November.
In some races, the results may not be known for several days or weeks, as votes are still being counted.
Here were the standings shortly after 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
District 2
Former Assemblymember Adrin Nazarian continued his lead with 38.1% of the vote in a seven-person race to replace Council President Paul Krekorian, who could not seek reelection due to term limits.
Sam Kbushyan, owner of the public affairs firm SKG, was in second place with 18.7% while North Hollywood Neighborhood Council member Jillian Burgos was third with 17%.
Rounding out the list were Manny Gonez, policy director with the environmental nonprofit TreePeople with 11.6%; Jon-Paul Bird, a therapist, 7.4%; Rudy Melendez, who works in Hollywood’s film industry, 4.1%; and attorney Marin Ghandilyan, 3.2%.
Nazarian was the heavy favorite entering election day, having been endorsed by the outgoing councilmember – his former boss – as well as Mayor Karen Bass, and having raised and outspent all his opponents in campaigning. Nazarian was also the only candidate in the race to have outside groups make independent…
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