L.A. mayoral, California House races soak up money and attention
In the last week of September, the Los Angeles mayoral election is in full swing while the California Legislature is gearing up for a lame duck session to deal with the California budget crisis.
The mayor’s race is the biggest of the two. It’s important because Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and former state Assemblywoman Wendy Greuel are the only two candidates to garner more than 50 percent of the votes in this month’s primary despite being in different parties.
Their close margin of victory comes down to two things: a low turnout in the primary that didn’t let either of them gain enough support to win outright or to unseat an incumbent.
In the state Assembly race, four candidates are running. Four candidates in this primary have garnered more than 15 percent of the vote: two Democrats are seeking the nomination to replace retiring Republican George Belcher and two Republicans are competing between state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and Assemblyman Anthony Portantino.
Each of the state’s 20 counties has voted by mail for the top two candidates in each race.
In the state Senate race, the four contenders on the Democratic side are both former assembly members, Assemblyman Steve Glazer and Assemblyman Dan Logue. The Republicans have three candidates, with Assemblyman Tony Mendoza being the most prominent.
The primary elections are September 13 in Los Angeles and on the Republican side, the September 28 primary will be in Riverside County.
The Los Angeles mayoral race is the most talked about, and it’s on the ballot. Four people have qualified to run for mayor, and each of them has received endorsements from political organizations and celebrities.
Villaraigosa is the only mayoral candidate to receive financial support from the Service Employees International Union, which has spent $1.6 million of its $5 million primary fund on a pro-Villaraigosa ad buy.
The winner of the September primary will replace a mayor who has been in office for one two years.