After a night of drawn-out ballot counting, the stage has been
set for what is expected to be a fierce runoff election for Los
Angeles mayor between Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa and incumbent
James Hahn.
Villaraigosa emerged ahead by a comfortable margin, while Hahn
faced a night of uncertainty before poll results indicated that he
edged out Bob Hertzberg for the second and final spot in
May’s runoff election.
Though Hertzberg’s campaign expressed concern regarding
potential voting irregularities, the former assembly speaker
conceded defeat Wednesday at his Encino campaign headquarters.
With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Villaraigosa emerged as
the clear frontrunner, winning over 33 percent of the electorate.
Hahn received 23.7 percent of the vote, while Hertzberg followed
closely behind with 22.1 percent.
A runoff election becomes necessary when no candidate receives a
majority vote.
While there was no doubt that Villaraigosa would claim first,
the councilman exceeded expectations, while Hertzberg’s
showing will disappoint many who expected the former assembly
speaker to claim second, said Raphael Sonenshein, a professor of
political science at California State Fullerton who is considered
an expert on city politics.
Though Hahn nearly became the first lame duck mayor the city has
seen in more than 30 years, Kam Kuwata, a spokesman for the Hahn
campaign, down-played the possible indications of a tight
second-place finish for the upcoming runoff.
“There were basically two tickets into the runoff and we
got one of them,” Kuwata said. “The most important
thing from our point of view was to just get in.”
After a lukewarm public response to the mayoral election, a
boost of excitement was provided late last night when a wrench was
thrown into the democratic process by the most unlikely of players
““ fog.
As the polls closed, a dense nighttime fog settled on the city,
grounding the helicopters assigned to collect ballots from the five
collection centers dispersed around the city.
Instead, ballots were stored in fire-proof bags and transported
by van, a change that slowed down the collection process, said
Renee McDade, a public services manager at the elections division
of the city clerk’s office.
Though polls closed at 8 p.m., the first set of ballots was not
received until around 10 p.m, with the last set arriving at 1 a.m.,
McDade said.
The Hertzberg campaign expressed uneasiness with the city
clerk’s office, as concerns arose that the lack of
independent observers in the vans could potentially lead to voting
irregularities.
Voter turnout, which was almost 30 percent, failed to meet
already low expectations, Sonenshein said.
Voters who did not register in time for the primary election
must register by May 2 to vote in the runoff election, which will
be held on May 17.
Public interest is expected to increase as the runoff nears.
The race is expected to rehash bitterness between the two
candidates developed after the negative campaigning of the 2001
mayoral election.
Recalling an ad put out by the Hahn campaign that placed
Villaraigosa’s face side by side with a lit crack pipe,
Villaraigosa has said publicly he will not be a punching bag this
time around.
“You can expect them to compete very intensely over every
part of the city,” Sonenshein said, adding that, though
Villaraigosa maintains a strong appeal to the Latino vote, every
other voting bloc is up for grabs.
Sonenshein said that though Hahn is an experienced campaigner,
Villaraigosa currently has more momentum coming out of the
primary.
If Villaraigosa is elected, he will be the first Latino mayor of
Los Angeles since the 19th century.
With reports from Richard Clough, Bruin senior
staff.