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Election Night: L.A. City Council Will Likely Now Have A Second Female Member
Councilman Gil Cedillo. (Photo courtesy of Gil Cedillo via Facebook)
Angelenos headed to the polls again on Tuesday with runoffs for two different L.A. City Council district seats, two L.A. Unified School District board seats, and Measure C, a contested police discipline reform measure, up for grabs.
We'll be updating as the night goes on, but here's where we are at so far. You can check up-to-the-minute-ish results on the City Clerk's site here.
As of 10:15 p.m., early results show incumbent Councilman Gil Cedillo with a considerable lead over bike activist/frequent internet commenter Joe Bray-Ali in the District 1 City Council race. With about 38% of Council District 1 ballots counted, Cedillo currently has 67.75% of the vote, compared to Bray-Ali's 32.24% share.
Things are looking far closer in the Council District 7 race, with Karo Torossian and Monica Rodriguez currently neck-and-neck in the race to represent the northeast San Fernando Valley. There is no incumbent in that runoff; the candidates are vying to fill the seat vacated when former Councilman Felipe Fuentes abruptly jumped ship ten months before his term ended to, uh, become a lobbyist. So far, only vote-by-mail ballots have been counted for CD 7, and the two candidates are basically even, with Torossian carrying 50.62% of the vote and Rodriguez pulling in 49.37%.
Measure C, the police discipline reform measure opposed by the ACLU, Black Lives Matter and the L.A. Times, currently looks slated to pass, with about 61.56% in the Yes column.
Update [11:10 p.m.]: With more than half of the CD 1 vote tabulated, Cedillo's already considerable lead has inched up. He now has 68.38% of the vote to Bray-Ali's 31.61%. Meanwhile, things are extremely close in the CD 7 race, where just under 16% of ballots have been counted. Both candidates remain neck-and-neck—but they've reversed positions. Rodriguez is now up, 50.4% of the vote to Torossian's 49.59% share.
Measure C still looks like it will pass; it currently has support from 61.18% of voters.
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Update [11:55 p.m.]: The L.A. Times has called the CD 1 race for incumbent Gil Cedillo. With 91% of precincts reporting, Cedillo has a more than two-to-one lead over Bray-Ali (Cedillo currently has 70.50% of the vote, to Bray-Ali's 29.49%). Rodriguez and Torossian are still neck-and-neck for the CD 7 seat, although Rodriguez has picked up a few more votes, edging up to 50.8% (she was at 50.4% an hour ago). A mere 163 votes currently separates the candidates.
Monica Rodriguez. (Photo courtesy of Monica Rodriguez via Flickr)
Update [12:50 a.m.] With 99.92% of all City of Los Angeles precincts reporting, Measure C looks to have passed with 57% of the vote. Critics have said that the measure will weaken the LAPD's disciplinary system.
Monica Rodriguez also looks to be emerging victorious in the tight battle for the District 7 council seat. She currently has 52.97% of the vote with 100% of CD 7 precincts reporting, giving her a solid 833 vote lead over Torossian.
With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Monica Rodriguez has won in District 7, with 52.9% of the vote.
— Dakota Smith (@dakotacdsmith) May 17, 2017
Rodriguez, a former Public Works commissioner who has previously worked as a police advisor and deputy for LAUSD board member Caprice Young's office, garnered 29.56% of the vote in the March election. Rodriguez received the endorsement of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti in January 2017.
The election results remain unofficial, pending a tally of late absentee and provisional ballots, according to the Times.
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With additional reporting by Emma Specter.
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