Luna Ticks Off a Win

Diana Lejins
PROMINENT Long Beach attorneys Stephanie Loftin (left) and Reba Birmingham flank Los Angeles County Sheriff-elect Robert Luna on election night, Nov. 8, at The Grand in Long Beach.

According to the latest Los Angeles County (LAC) election results on Monday, Nov. 14, former Long Beach Police (approximately 1200 personnel) Chief Robert Luna led substantially by 59% (867,704 votes) versus sitting LAC Sheriff Alex Villanueva’s 41% (608,520 votes).

Luna’ campaign promised to restore trust in the approximately 18,000-employee Sheriff’s Department ,which has been fraught with accusations of mismanagement, prisoner mistreatment and a proliferation of deputy-based “gangs.” While the passage of LAC Measure A allowing the Board of Supervisors to remove an elected Sheriff for “just cause” may provide extra monitoring and supervision of the agency by the LAC Board of Supervisors, it could also open a new door to political corruption and serve as a deterrent to public-official investigations. LAC has the largest sheriff’s department in the world.

In other Long Beach races, mayoral candidate Rex Richardson claimed a premature victory at the first posting of election results Tuesday night. He has, however, maintained his lead over Suzie Price through the week. Richardson is at 55.3% (42,697 votes) and Price is at 44.7 % (34,531 votes). *As of Mar 11, 2022, there were a total of 273,546 registered voters in the City of Long Beach.

Retiring Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia swept the 42nd Congressional Representative field with a 66.43% (67,913 votes) to John Briscoe’s 33.57% (34,316 votes).

California 69th District Assembly candidate Josh Lowenthal, son of Congressman Alan Lowenthal, has kept a wide margin throughout. Lowenthal is at 59.71% (44,761 votes); Al Austin is at 40.29% (30,204 votes).

3rd District Council District Kristina Duggan garners a strong position at 57.92% (8,090 votes); Kaylee Caruso lags behind at 42.08% (5,878 votes).

In the 5th District Council race, Meagan Kerr holds a lead at 53.4% (7,724 votes) while reformer Ian Patton follows at 46.6% (6,752 votes).

9th District Council candidate Joni Hicks has a wide berth of 66.36% (3,002 votes) compared with 33.64% (1,523 votes) for Ginny Gonzales.

City-sponsored measures all have a wide margin toward passing to date.

Incumbent school board members and the Measure Q bond have substantial leads.

Final results will be released and certified when all votes are tallied. Follow the results at www.results.lavote.gov..

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Comments

A perfect example of having to pick the worse of two evils running for Sheriff.

The board of supervisors got exactly what they wanted, a weak sheriff that will do EXACTLY as they say. Not surprised to see Stephanie Loftin hitch her wagon to this clown..

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