We have some winners and losers after the April 12 elections.
In Riverside County, Incumbents Ted Weill and Richard Kite will keep their seats on the Rancho Mirage city council. More than 75 percent of voters approved Measure 1, which will prevent future Rancho Mirage councilmembers from lifting a ban on slow-speed electric vehicles such as golf carts on major roadways, including Highway 111 and Bob Hope Drive.
Councilmembers Ken Talmage and Steve Dallas both ran for mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea in Monterey County. Dallas secured the seat by a little more than 100 votes. His seat will be left vacant with two years remaining—meaning the council can choose to appoint someone to replace him. Newcomers Jan Reimers and Bobby Richards will fill two seats on the council left open by Talmage and Councilwoman Victoria Beach, who chose not to see re-election.
Several of the more interesting races took place in Los Angeles County.
With two seats open in Arcadia, early results show former councilman Peter Aumndson and newcomer April Verlato with the most votes. Measure A was defeated with twice as many NO votes as there were YES – meaning the city will NOT repeal the Utility User’s Tax.
With 52% voter turnout, early results show all incumbents in Avalon keeping their seats—Annie Marshall in the Mayor’s seat with 57% of the vote and incumbents Oley Olsen and Richard Hernandez on city council with 33% and 38% of the vote, respectively.
Unofficial results in Culver City show incumbent Meghan Sahli-Wells keeping her seat with 400 votes more than the second highest vote getter, Goran Eriksson. The third spot on the council will go to Thomas Aujero Small.
With three seats up for grabs on the El Segundo City Council, unofficial results show newcomers Drew Boyles and Carol Pirsztuk, and former councilman Don Brann as the top three vote getters. Incumbents Marie Fellhauer and David Atkinson look likely to stay in fourth and fifth place. An overwhelming majority of residents voted YES on Measure B, which will raise the city’s hotel tax from 8 to 12 percent.
Semi-Official results show all three of La Puente’s incumbents Dan Holloway, Charlie Klinakis and Violeta Lewis keeping their seats on the city council.
Lawndale residents won’t see any changes on the City Council for at least two more years, having re-elected both incumbents Dan Reid and James Osborne to the city council. Robert Pullen-Miles was unchallenged for his second term as Mayor and will keep his seat.
Unofficial results show current Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris keeping his seat by over 3,000 votes. The two seats on the council are likely to stay with incumbents Ken Mann and Angela Underwood-Jacobs.
The city home to a lot of the drama for this cycle is Long Beach, where incumbents were favored. Early results show Jeannine Pearce facing Eric Gray in a runoff for District 2 in June, receiving 43.6% and 36.9% of the vote, respectively. Incumbent and write-in candidate Dee Andrews received 48.1% of the vote for District 6, followed by Erik Miller with 27.4%. Both candidates will face a runoff in June. Incumbent Al Austin in District 8 received 50.1% of the vote, and if this holds, he will keep his seat. Because the numbers are so close, there may be a recount, which could give candidate Wesley Turnbow a shot in a runoff (he received 33.5% of the vote).
Voters returned incumbents John Capoccia and John Harabedian to Sierra Madre City Council.
Unofficial results show Walnut incumbents Eric Ching and Nancy Tragarz and newcomer Andrew Rodriguez as the top three vote getters for city council. Measure A received an overwhelming majority of YES votes, meaning the city will also enact term limits for councilmembers.
Councilman Joe Vinatieri will be the Whittier’s first elected mayor, and Josue Alvarado will be the second elected Latino to the city council in the city’s history.