The 2022 statewide primary may be over – but political tensions are not.
Especially for those candidates who are either clinging to a weak lead or who are a bit behind.
And such is the case in several races in Los Angeles County, including some congressional battles.
That’s because there were more than 400,000 outstanding ballots that still had to be counted after Tuesday’s election, as the LA county registrar estimated on Wednesday, June 8. Most of them were vote-by-mail ballots, but there were also a little over 1,000. Conditional, provisional and miscellaneous ballots.
The registrar gave the first update on the post-poll results on Friday afternoon. The next update is scheduled for Tuesday, June 14.
But while outstanding ballots – which are not counted on Election Day for a variety of reasons – are generally not enough to swing most races, they can have serious implications for many narrow races.
In the race to Congress, most of the remaining intrigue isn’t about who will finish first – but who will be the second candidate for the runoff during the November 8 general election.
Some congressional districts, it should be noted, are parts outside Los Angeles County, so the amount of ballots owed to them can be even greater.
According to the website of the California Secretary of State, as of 6:30 p.m., the races for the congressional districts that include Los Angeles County are as follows:
District 23: Current Representative Jay Obernolte had about 58.5% of the vote to represent a new district, which includes the desert between the Antelope Valley and the Nevada border (grazing LA County only). The Republican’s two Democratic challengers were closer to each other than Obernolt. Community organizer Derek Marshall had about 22.5% and Victorville councilwoman Blanca Gomez had about 19%.
District 26: 69-year-old Democratic Rep. Julia Brownlee of Westlake Village received 55.7% of the vote to continue serving the Ventura County district, which she has represented since 2012; The district includes a wisp of LA County. Republican ex-federal prosecutor Matt Jacobs of Westlake Village had about 37%. The other three challengers were in single digits.
District 27: Mike Garcia’s thin but surprising margin over Democrat Christy Smith for the 25th congressional seat in northern LA County and Ventura County, Republicans had 48.3% of the vote in the new 27th district. Smith had about 36.7%. The other four candidates were in single digits. Democrat John Quay Quarty accepted.
District 28: Democratic Rep. Judy Choo, who has represented parts of the San Gabriel Valley since 2013, had about 62.4% of the vote as she seeks to return to Congress in this new district, which includes the Alhambra, Monterey Park, Rosemead and Arcadia. Republican Wes Hollman had 29.9%. The other two candidates were in single digits.
District 29: Democratic Rep. Tony Cárdenas, who has served in the House since 2013 in the newly created San Fernando Valley District that includes Sylmar, Pacoima and Panorama City, took a sizable lead over four of his challengers, including three Republicans. Tony Cardenas had 57.5% of the vote, while fellow Democrat Angelica Dueas – the former president of the Sun Valley neighborhood council who sought the seat in 2018 and 2020 – had about 19.1%.
District 30: One of the nation’s best-known and most influential Democrats, veteran Representative Adam Schiff of Burbank/Glendale, crushed his competition once again, receiving nearly 61.7% of the vote. Silver Lake Neighborhood Council member Democrat Maybe a Girl had 10.3% while Republican civil rights attorney Rhonda Kennedy had 9.4%. The next closest Republican law officer was Patrick Lee Gipson, who had 7.2%.
District 31: In this revamped San Gabriel Valley district, which includes West Covina, El Monte, Azusa and San Dimas, veteran Democratic Rep. Grace Napolitano received about 54.2% of the vote, with Republican Danielle Bosic Martinez holding a healthy second place with about 38.3%. , Democrat Rocco Anthony De Luca was in the single digits.
District 32: Half a dozen candidates high-profile Sherman Oaks Rep. The votes did not reach the total for Brad Sherman, who had about 54.3% of the vote in the San Fernando Valley-focused district, which includes Bel Air, Canoga Park, Chatsworth, Encino. , Malibu, and Northridge. Republican business owner Lucie LaPointe Wolotzky had about 21.1%. Republican writer Melissa Tooim was well back with about 10%, and the other four candidates were in the single digits.
District 34: Democratic Rep. Jimmy Gomez had 51.8% of the vote as he aims to return to the House to represent this rescheduled district, including Boyle Heights, Koreatown and Chinatown. Democrat David Kim, who lost to Gomez by 6 points in 2020, had 36.3%.
District 35: Democratic Rep. Norma Torres, who has represented 35th since 2015, received about 55.3% of the vote. Republican Mike Cargill, an Army veteran, had about 22.8%. This district includes Chino, Fontana, Montclair, Ontario and Pomona.
District 36: South Bay icon Representative Ted Liu, a Democrat who has raised his national profile since the war with then-President Trump, trailed his seven challengers with 65.2% of the vote. Republican Joe Collins had 14.3%.
District 37: This central LA district is guaranteed a new member of Congress, with state Democratic Sen. Sidney Kamalagar receiving 43 votes, and Democrats Jan Perry and Daniel Lee receiving 18.6% and 16.4% of the vote, respectively.
District 38: Representative Linda Sanchez, a familiar figure among Democrats, received 57 votes as she attempted to win for the 11th time in Congress, representing a solid blue district that is mostly eastern Los Angeles County, as well as Orange County. is a piece of. Republican Walnut Mayor Eric Ching, who won the election three times in his city, had 31.2%.
District 42: In one of the most lucrative races in the field, the “Battle of García” shook off in an unexpected way – one of them García finished far behind in third place. Rising Democratic star and Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia had about 45.8% of the vote, while Republican John Briscoe—a longtime elected board member of the Ocean View School District in Huntington Beach—running against incumbent 47th District Representative Alan Lowenthal and losing Went. 2020 – was in second place with 27.7%. Assemblywoman Christina Garcia, D-Bel Gardens, considered a co-favorite with Long Beach mayor with whom she shares a surname, was 12.6%. The other five candidates were in single digits. The new 42nd Congressional District, after redistribution, essentially combines the existing 40th and 47th Congressional Districts. Reps. Lucille Royble-Allard, representing D-Boyle Heights, 40th; He and Lowenthal both plan to retire after the current term.
District 43: Iconic Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters, who has represented the district since 2012, won 72.5% of the vote in this primary contest. Republican Omar Navarro, who Waters won in the last three elections, was again far behind, with 12/8%. But he is in a good position to go into the runoff, as the other two candidates were in single digits. The district stretches from LAX to Inglewood to Gardena and parts of Compton and Torrance.
District 44: In this district—which runs from the Port of LA to Carson and Paramount, and through the South Gate—incumbent Democratic Rep. Nanette Barragan received 66.5% of the vote, while Republican newcomer and minister Paul Jones received 26% of the vote. Democrat Morris Griffin, who has been on and off the ballot since 2016, had about 8%.
District 45: GOP Representative Michelle Steele received 48.7% of the vote in her bid for a second term in Congress, though in a newly drawn district that forecasters have said was a toss-up. Indeed, Democrat Jay Chen, who runs a real estate firm and is an intelligence officer at Navy Reserves, was not far behind, with 42.2%. That’s a big enough gap between the third candidate—Republican Long Pham, an engineer from Fountain Valley who had 9.5%—to make him a potential runaway rival to Steele. The C-shaped district begins in Fountain Valley, curves north to take Cerritos in Los Angeles County and rounds into Placentia.
