The results of Tuesday's primary election for Los Angeles' District 12 City Council seat, which represents much of the Valley, are in. With all precincts reporting, no candidate reached the 50% plus one threshold that would earn them the seat outright. That means the top two vote-getters will face each other in a runoff on Aug. 13.
John Lee and Loraine Lundquist earned the most votes -- but it was close. Lee received 6,195 votes, just 50 more than Lundquist, according to the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk's office. Coming in third with roughy 4,020 votes was Scott Abrams, who has long led Congressman Brad Sherman's constituent service office.
A total of 15 candidates threw their hats into the race to lead the district vacated by Mitch Englander last year.
Lee, a Republican, was former Councilman Englander's chief of staff. Lundquist, a Democrat, is a physicist and teaches sustainability at Cal State Northridge.
Englander had been the lone Republican on the council. District 12 includes the Valley communities of Chatsworth, North Hills, Northridge, Granada Hills, Porter Ranch, Reseda, Sherwood Forest and West Hills.
Though the City Council is officially nonpartisan, a Democrat winning the seat would represent a shift for the governing body, which has had Republican representation for decades.
FULL RESULTS
Candidate(s) |
Votes |
Percent |
John Lee |
6,195 |
19.17% |
Loraine Lundquist |
6,145 |
19.01% |
Scott Abrams |
4,024 |
12.45% |
Jay Beeber |
2,953 |
9.14% |
Frank Ferry |
2,862 |
8.86% |
Charles Sean Dinse |
2,485 |
7.69% |
Jeff Daar |
1,220 |
3.78% |
Stella T. Maloyan |
1,072 |
3.32% |
Brandon Saario |
1,067 |
3.30% |
Jack Kayajian |
937 |
2.90% |
Carlos Amador |
920 |
2.85% |
Navraj Singh |
764 |
2.36% |
Annie Eunwoo Cho |
647 |
2.00% |
Josh Yeager |
541 |
1.67% |
Raji Rab |
485 |
1.50% |
Results via the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk's office