Several leading candidates stepped up to declare victory in races across the city yesterday and today, after more vote results were released by Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder late Tuesday afternoon, even though county election workers are still counting ballots. Another update of vote totals is expected later today.
As we reported yesterday, CD5 Candidate Katy Young Yaroslavsky sent an email Tuesday morning to supporters, saying “Now, thanks to your support, we are leading by a significant and growing margin. I’m optimistic that I’ll have the privilege of serving as the next Los Angeles City Councilmember representing District 5.” Shortly thereafter her opponent, Sam Yebri, conceded the race. As of Tuesday afternoon, Yaroslavsky was more than 11,000 votes ahead.
In CD13, Hugo Soto-Martinez posted a message on Instagram thanking his supporters for helping him win that race.
“As we said at the beginning, what we win is equal to the power that we build – and together we’ve built an incredibly powerful multiracial movement of working people. Now, we’re bringing this movement into City Hall. During the last 15 months, our team of 2000+ volunteers: Knocked over 140.000 doors; Made over 50,000 phone calls; Texted over 150,000 voters; Sent out over 15,000 handwritten postcards,” he wrote.
“We want to thank Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell for a spirited campaign. I respect your passion for constituent services, and how hard you fought to see your vision through. I look forward to working with you to ensure the smoothest possible transition for the residents of CD13.”
And late Tuesday afternoon, incumbent Mitch O’Farrell, who failed to win re-election for a third and final term, conceded the race.
“Though these results were not what we hoped for, I am proud of the campaign we ran, and I am proud of my team. We will serve the constituents of the 13th District until my last day in office and ensure a smooth transition to the new Councilmember so residents can continue to receive constituent services without interruption,” wrote O’Farrell in a statement released Tuesday afternoon.
After the latest vote total updates, Soto-Martinez was leading by almost 5,000 votes.
Meanwhile, in the City Attorney contest, Hydee Feldstein Soto sent a message to supporters this morning declaring victory over opponent Faisal Gill. After the vote totals were updated yesterday, Feldstein Soto was leading by more than 85,000 votes citywide.
“While ballots remain to be tallied,” Feldstein Soto wrote, “the current vote count and the steady margins give our team the confidence that I will have the great privilege of serving as your next Los Angeles City Attorney. It will be the honor of my lifetime to serve this City I love and have called home for decades, coincidentally as the first woman ever elected as Los Angeles City Attorney and the first Latina elected to any city-wide office in LA. While the history and the victory are important, my focus is on working quickly to organize the team and an agenda to reflect your vote of confidence.”
The other big citywide race, for Mayor of Los Angeles, remains too close to call, though Congresswoman Karen Bass has been steadily increasing her lead over developer Rick Caruso. Bass is currently leading by 36,349 votes, an increase of nearly 16,000 votes since the last election update.
Yesterday’s fifth election update includes 92,776 ballots processed since the day before (November 14). The total ballot count is now 1,892,727, which is 33.63% of registered voters.
Also, there is no word yet from the candidates running for the Board of Supervisors District 3 seat. Though West Hollywood City Councilmember Lindsey Horvath continues to increase her lead over Senator Bob Hertzberg. She’s currently leading by 10,982 voters.
The estimated number of outstanding ballots to be processed is 565,050. See estimates below:
• Vote by Mail ballots (VBM): 553,000
• Conditional Voter Registration ballots: 12,000
• Provisional ballots: 50
Election results can be viewed on LAVOTE.GOV.
