After weeks of ballot counting, the Los Angeles County registrar’s office has certified the results of the March 5 primary election for races in which L.A. County voters got to cast ballots.
A total of 1,641,715 ballots were counted, which translated to a voter turnout rate of 28.9% in L.A. County, according to the registrar’s office.
Next, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors is expected to declare that the elections have concluded at its April 9 meeting.
Here are the election results as of Friday, March 29 for the Los Angeles City Council and Los Angeles Unified School District school board races that have been certified by the county registrar’s office.
For local municipal and school board races, which are nonpartisan, a candidate who received over 50% of the vote won their race outright and won’t have to compete in a runoff election. If no candidate received a majority of the vote, the top two vote-getters will face off in the November general election.
Los Angeles City Council
District 2: In the seven-person race to replace termed-out City Council President Paul Krekorian, former Assemblymember Adrin Nazarian, who previously worked for Krekorian, and small business owner Jillian Burgos, who also serves on the North Hollywood Neighborhood Council, were the top two vote-getters who will face off in November. Nazarian received 37.2% of the vote in the primary election while Burgos had 22.3%.
District 4: Incumbent Nithya Raman narrowly avoided a runoff, capturing 50.7% of the vote to win a second term on the council. She faced two opponents. Her biggest challenger, L.A. Deputy City Attorney Ethan Weaver, received 38.6%, despite backers spending more than $1.35 million in advertising and other independent expenditures to support Weaver or attack Raman. That amount, along with nearly $412,000 in independent expenditures by groups supporting the incumbent made the District 4 race the most expensive L.A. City Council race in the primary in terms of spending by outside groups.
District 6: Incumbent Imelda Padilla, who was first elected last June to fill a vacancy, handily won her first full term on the council, with 78.4% of the vote. She had been challenged by two candidates.
District 8: Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson captured 78.4% of the vote, easily sailing to his third and final term on the council. He had faced opposition from two candidates.
District 10: Councilmember Heather Hutt, who was appointed to the council in April 2023, received 37.8% of the vote in this five-person race and will face off in November against Grace Yoo, a community activist and a former city commissioner, who captured 23.1% of the vote.
District 12: Incumbent John Lee handily defeated former City Ethics Commission president Serena Oberstein in this two-person race. Lee received 62.3% of the vote to Oberstein’s 37.7% despite facing allegations of ethics violations – accusations which he has vehemently denied and are contesting.
District 14: First-time political candidate Ysabel Jurado, a tenant rights attorney, will face incumbent Kevin de León in a runoff election. Jurado was the top vote-getter with 24.5% of the vote in this eight-person race. De León, who’s been heavily criticized for his role in a racist audio leak scandal that upended City Hall in fall of 2022, received 23.4%. Assemblymember Miguel Santiago ended in third place with 21.3% despite strong support from unions which spent heavily to try to get him elected.
Measure HLA: In addition to City Council races, L.A. city voters had one local measure on their ballot. Voters resoundingly supported the Healthy Streets LA measure, which calls for spending up to $3 billion to add bike and bus lanes and widen sidewalks throughout L.A., in hopes of making streets safer for pedestrians and bicyclists. The measure passed with 65.5% approval despite concerns from critics who said much-needed car lanes would be taken away to make room for the other additions.
Los Angeles Unified School District
District 1: Sherlett Hendy Newbill, with 25.7% of the vote, will face off against Khallid Al-Alim, who had 20.1%, in November. The race started with seven candidates seeking to replace retiring board member George McKenna. Hendy Newbill is a policy advisor to McKenna. Al-Alim, a community activist, lost his endorsement from United Teachers Los Angeles the evening before the election after word surfaced that he had “liked” or reposted antisemitic and sexually explicit social media posts.
District 3: Incumbent Scott Schmerelson, who is seeking his third term, was the top vote-getter in this five-person race, capturing 44.6% of the vote. He will face Dan Chang, a nonprofit leader and math teacher who received 29%, in November.
District 5: In the four-person race to replace retiring school board President Jackie Goldberg, special education teacher Karla Griego, with 36.7% of the vote, will face Graciela Ortiz, who had 28.8%, in a runoff election. Ortiz is a former Huntington Park City Council member and mayor. In February, California School Employees Association Local 500 rescinded its endorsement of her after a lawsuit alleged she was liable for the sexual assault of a minor by one of her campaign workers. Ortiz’s campaign said the lawsuit was politically motivated.
District 7: Incumbent Tanya Ortiz Franklin was reelected with 55.9% of the vote. She ran against teacher Lydia Gutierrez, who had 44.1%.