Voters on Tuesday cast their votes on an array of key Los Angeles County government races, including Board of Supervisors, Sheriff, Assessor and a sales tax measure to raise revenue to plug federal cuts in healthcare services.
Measure ER, the proposed half-percentage-point sales tax, would create a stopgap fund of about $1 billion a year for county healthcare services such as clinics and hospitals.
The following races reflect updated semi-official results released Wednesday afternoon, June 3, from the June 2 primary by the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder’s Office.
Sheriff Robert Luna remained in the lead over his challengers with 44.4% of the vote, according to the semi-official results. Former Sheriff Alex Villanueva was at 24%, with Eric Strong, Karla Carranza, Oscar Antonio Martinez, Mike Bornman, Andre N. White and Brendan Corbett at 11.5%, 5.9%, 4.6%, 4.4%, 3.8% and 1.4%, respectively.
Luna and Villanueva appear to be headed to a run-off in the November general election.
In the assessor’s race, incumbent Jeffrey Prang — who has been in office for nearly 12 years, having won the seat in 2014, and subsequently reelected in 2018 and 2022 — led with 57.2%. Sandy Sun had 15.6%, Rob Newland had 12.4%, Stephen Adamus had 8.2% and Steven Palty had 6.6%.
If his numbers hold or grow, Prang appears to have won re-election, avoiding a run-off in November.
For the two seats up for grabs on the powerful L.A. County Board of Supervisors, state Sen. Maria Elena Durazo and incumbent Supervisor Lindsey Horvath were both cruising to an outright victory, semi-official results from Wednesday afternoon showed.
In District 1, an open seat, Durazo, a Democrat from Los Angeles serving in the California Legislature, was leading the pack with 56.6%, according to tallies of vote-by-mail ballots returned before June 2 and ballots cast at a Vote Center before Election Day, reported Wednesday afternoon.
In second was Elaine Alaniz, with 15.5%, followed by David Argudo with 11%, Noel Almario with 9.5% and Annabella Figueroa Mazariegos at 7.5%.
Durazo appeared to be cruising to an outright victory, should results hold. She celebrated with a speech Tuesday night at her campaign party at Plaza de la Raza in Lincoln Heights.
“As your county supervisor, I will continue that work here at home — with urgency, compassion and a promise to make this government truly serve its people,” Durazo said.
In District 3, Horvath had collected 63% of the votes, according to the count of vote-by-mail ballots cast before June 2 and ballots cast at Vote Centers also before June 2. In second place was Tonia Arey with 18.6%, followed by Carmenlina Minasyan with 9.6% and Tomas Sidenfaden with 8.8%.
Horvath declared victory, saying the voters sent a message that results, accountability and delivering on the promise of change are what matter most.
“We have won tonight,” said Horvath in an interview Tuesday night, saying she predicts the next several vote tallies will also be favorable. Early voters lean more conservative and Horvath was glad to get such overwhelming voter support from what is not necessarily her base, she said.
“These voters are voting with confidence on the changes I am bringing in L.A. County,” Horvath said.
If a candidate in these races gets more than 50% of the votes, they win the race outright and avoid a November runoff, which would otherwise be between the top two vote-getters.
As for Measure ER, the county’s half-cent sales tax to boost healthcare options, that initiative trailed at 52.7% no and 47.3% yes. Measure ER needs 50% of the vote plus one for approval.
“We are cautiously optimistic it is on a track to fail,” said Aidan Chao, chairman of the Los Angeles County Taxpayers Association who led the “No Blank Checks LA” group against the measure. “It is a taxpayers’ revolt.”
Supporters would not be interviewed on Wednesday, saying they will wait until all the ballots are counted.
“With ballots still being counted, it is still too early to know the final outcome of Measure ER,” said Teresa Eilers, Yes on ER campaign manager, in a statement Wednesday.
Here’s a little bit more about who was running for office and what was at stake in L.A. County:
L.A. County sheriff
Luna ran for reelection to a second term to be the top law enforcement officer in Los Angeles County. The winner will oversee 10,000 sheriff’s deputies that patrol 153 unincorporated communities and 42 of 88 cities that contract for law enforcement services.
Luna, 60, faced seven challengers, including three serving in his own department, as well as the man he unseated, former Sheriff Alex Villanueva.
The challengers included White, 34, a Sheriff’s Department gang detective; Martinez, 45, who has worked in the Sheriff’s Department in custody, patrol, professional standards and public information; Bornman, a retired Sheriff’s Department captain who spent 36 years with the department; Carranza, 46, a 21-year veteran of the department and currently a sergeant; Corbett, 66, who worked for the department for 37 years in SWAT and K-9 and was an assistant sheriff before retiring; and Strong, worked for the Compton and Pasadena police departments before joining the Sheriff’s Department in 2000.
Issues discussed by the candidates ranged from an inability to hire and retain deputies, department morale and poor conditions at the Men’s Central Jail.
Luna pointed out that crime went down during his first term, along with use-of-force episodes in the jails. A second term under him would bring continuity in leadership, he said, especially important as the county prepares to host the Olympics, the Paralympics, the Super Bowl and the World Cup.
L.A. County Board of Supervisors, Districts 1 and 3
In District 1, voters will elect a new face, since the seat is being vacated by Hilda Solis, who will be termed out in December.
Those running to fill her seat are Elaine Alaniz, 44, a disaster recovery specialist who was on the city of Los Angeles Westlake North Neighborhood Council; Noel Almario, 40, a birth doula and resident of Eagle Rock; David E. Argudo, 55, a member of the La Puente City Council; Maria Elena Durazo, a state senator and former labor leader; and Annabella Figueroa Mazariegos, an L.A. County employee.
District 1 includes about 2 million residents and includes Skid Row and Boyle Heights in Los Angeles, spreading into the central San Gabriel Valley cities of Alhambra, Monterey Park, Montebello, El Monte, Baldwin Park, La Puente, West Covina, Azusa, Walnut and Pomona, including unincorporated communities of Avocado Heights, Hacienda Heights, Valinda and Rowland Heights.
In District 3, Horvath is running for re-election to a second term.
District 3 is 446 square miles and home to 2 million people. It includes portions of 10 cities, 26 unincorporated communities, and 49 neighborhoods in the city of Los Angeles. The district stretches from Santa Monica to Hollywood, Sylmar to San Fernando, and includes most of the Santa Monica Mountains and the San Fernando Valley.
Horvath was opposed by three challengers in her first re-election bid since winning the District 3 seat in 2022 by beating longtime San Fernando Valley-based state Sen. Bob Hertzberg by 29,000 votes.
Horvath has faced issues in her district, which includes county areas devastated by the Palisades fire. In addition, she’s pushed for price-gouging regulations for displaced fire victims facing high rents, which have since run out.
In a major motion, she led the county’s separation from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, while leading the way in forming the new county Homeless Services & Housing Department. She also placed a county reform measure on the ballot despite strong opposition from two fellow supervisors. Still, Measure G passed and will add four new members to the five-person board, create an elected county chief executive officer, and recently prompted the board to create the first-ever L.A. County Ethics Commission.
The four candidates running for the seat are Tonia Arey, 55, a Realtor who lives in Calabasas; Horvath, 43, the incumbent who has been mayor and council member of West Hollywood; Carmenlina Minasova Minasyan, 54, a reform activist from L.A.; and Tomás Sidenfaden, 45, a software engineer from L.A.
L.A. County Assessor
Assessor Prang has been in office for nearly 12 years.
Prang faced four challengers: Adamus, 47, a property assessment specialist from Whittier and 14-year veteran of the Assessor’s Office; Newland, 50, a real estate appraiser from Lake Balboa; Palty, 68, of L.A., who has more than four decades of experience as a tax consultant; and Sun, 57, of L.A., who is deputy assessor and has 26 years of experience in the office.
Issues discussed by the candidates include cutting delays in hiring, reforms using technology and reaching out to property owners with more educational events about how the office works.
Measure ER
The measure, put on the ballot by the Board of Supervisors, asks voters to support a half-percentage-point sales tax increase to help stave off the effects of federal cuts affecting county healthcare facilities, including the risk of some clinics and even hospitals closing.
If approved, it would raise $1 billion annually to pay for clinics, workers and nonprofit entities that provide healthcare services administered by L.A. County.
The measure is led by District 2 County Supervisor Holly Mitchell and is supported by a coalition of clinics, labor unions and physician groups. The general sales tax increase puts money into the county’s general fund for five years and it sunsets in October 2031.