Primary elections took place in California on Tuesday, including vacant seat runoffs for LA County Supervisor, LA County Sheriff and US House of Representatives. The top two vote-getters in each race advance to the November ballot.
As The Malibu Times went to press Tuesday night, only early estimates were available as polls closed at 8 p.m. Check malibutimes.com for updated election results.
Kuehl holds edge in supervisor race
As of Tuesday evening, former State Senator Sheila Kuehl had taken a slight lead (35%) over Bobby Shriver (30%), with the other six candidates far behind in the race for Third District County Supervisor.
Kuehl brings 14 years of experience in state government, eight as a senator and six as an assemblymember.
Shriver is a former Santa Monica City Council member and mayor.
Former Malibu City Council Member Pam Ulich is also in contention for a spot on the November ballot, positioned in fourth place (8%) behind West Hollywood Councilmember John Duran (15%) as of Tuesday night.
Term limits have made a vacant seat in the LA County Supervisors, with long-time Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky out of the running for the first time in 20 years.
McDonnell leads for LA County Sheriff
The leader in the county sheriff race as of Tuesday evening was Long Beach Chief of Police Jim McDonnell, an outsider to the LA Sheriff Department. At 46%, he was distantly trailed by Paul Tanaka (15%), with Bob Olmsted (10%) and James Hellmold (9%) further behind.
Following the resignation of LA County Sheriff Lou Baca, the position has been filled by interim Orange County Sheriff John Scott.
Republican leads US Representative 33rd District race
At the time of publication, with 7% of LA County precincts reporting results, Elan Carr, a Republican from Los Angeles, held a narrow lead (24%) to replace Rep. Henry Waxman, with Democrats Ted Lieu (20%) and Wendy Greuel (18%) not far behind.
Waxman announced his retirement earlier this year, leading to a highly contentious race for his vacant seat.
By the time of Tuesday’s primary election, the field remained wide open, with 18 candidates vying for two spots on the November ballot.
Jerry Brown runs away with governor’s race
As heavily predicted, current California Gov. Jerry Brown has taken a substantial lead over his 15 competitors in the primary race. With 27% of precincts reporting, Brown has earned over half of all votes cast (55%).
Trailing far behind Brown on Tuesday night were Republicans Neel Kashkari and Tim Donnelly, with 18% and 15% of votes, respectively. Kashkari took an early lead over Donnelly, although it wasn’t yet clear which of the two would join Brown on the November ballot.
Newson leads for lieutenant gov
With only 28% of precincts reporting on Tuesday night, together with absentee ballots, it’s already fairly clear that the lieutenant governor race will be coming down to Gavin Newsom and Ron Nehring come November, with Newsom holding over 50% of votes and Nehring earning almost a quarter (23%).
Newsom, the incumbent, has held the post since 2010. His closest competitor, Nehring, is the former Chairman of the California Republican Party.
