Sponsored by
Live results: Luna takes wide lead in early results
Incumbent Sheriff Robert Luna, left, and challenger Alex Villanueva, who lost his role as county sheriff to Luna in the 2022 election.
(
Trevor Stamp
/
For LAist
)
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna took an early lead in the race to head the department he’s run for the last four years.
Returns in the sheriff’s race heavily favored Luna over challenger and predecessor Alex Villanueva after polls closed. A win for Luna was largely expected going into the election after he handily beat Villanueva in 2022.
About an hour after the polls closed, Luna told LAist he was encouraged by the numbers, but acknowledged that many more votes needed to be counted.
"I'm very grateful to the voters in L.A. County that I think they did their research," he said. "They looked at my accomplishments — four years of progressing our department forward versus trying to go back to what it was and dragging the department backwards. I'm very happy to see the initial numbers."
LAist has reached out to Villanueva's campaign but has not yet heard back.
What to keep in mind about these numbers
- For LAist's charts showing vote counts, we get numbers directly from the L.A. County and Orange County registrars of voters for local races. Totals are updated on our site as soon as possible after the registrars provide new tallies. For statewide races, counts come from the California Secretary of State's Office.
- Has your ballot been tallied yet? You can track the status of your ballot here.
- Keep in mind that, in tight races particularly, the winner may not be determined for days or weeks after election day. That's because early voting and mail-in ballots have fundamentally reshaped how votes are counted and when election results are known. The upshot: Ballots can be postmarked up to and including Election Day. They're counted as long as the ballot arrives within seven days of the election and that window contributes to the lag time before results are announced.
- In L.A. County, for example, daily updates on the counting are expected to take place at least once a day — usually around 5 p.m. — through Nov. 13. (There will be multiple updates on Nov. 5 and 6.) Then, the once-a-day counts will resume again on Nov. 17, 19, 25 and 27. The office is scheduled to certify election results by Friday, Nov. 27. In Orange County, There will be multiple updates after the polls close, and then daily updates weekdays at 5 p.m. until results are scheduled to be certified on or before Dec. 3.
- The California Secretary of State is scheduled to certify the election results on Dec. 11.
- Our priority during the vote count will be sharing outcomes and election calls only when they have been thoroughly checked and vetted by journalists. To that end, we will rely on official results and report when candidates concede. Otherwise, we rely on NPR and the Associated Press for race calls. We will not report the calls or projections of other news outlets. You can find more about NPR's and the AP's process for counting votes and calling races here and here.
The background
The candidates painted starkly different pictures of the department — the largest sheriff’s agency in the country — during the campaign.
Villanueva claimed the department has fallen apart on Luna’s watch. Luna argued his leadership has brought down violent crime and cut homicides by 25% in areas patrolled by his deputies.
No matter the winner, the department faces a slew of challenges.
Luna has been criticized for his management of county jails. The U.S. Department of Justice recently launched an investigation into conditions at the Men’s Central Jail and, last year, California’s attorney general filed a lawsuit alleging inhumane and unconstitutional conditions inside county jails.
The Sheriff’s Department also is dealing with ongoing staffing challenges, allegations of excessive use of force, deputy gangs and ongoing friction with the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission.
The next sheriff will also have to help oversee security for the 2028 Olympic Games in and around Los Angeles.
This year’s race was a rematch of the 2022 election, in which Luna unseated then-incumbent Villanueva with a 23-percentage-point margin.
Villanueva’s term was marked by clashes with county supervisors and criticism over investigations he launched into critics, including an L.A. Times journalist who covered the department.
After he left office, Villanueva was placed on a "do not rehire" list after the County Equity Oversight Panel found that he violated discrimination and harassment policies during his term. Villanueva denied the allegation.
Campaign finance
Go deeper on the issues
Ask us a question
What questions do you have about this election?
You ask, and we'll answer: Whether it's about who's funding the campaigns or how to track your ballot, we're here to help you understand the 2026 election.