It took two elections, scores of debates and months of bitter
campaigning, but on Tuesday night one man emerged as the next mayor
of Los Angeles.
Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa handily defeated incumbent Mayor
Jim Hahn by a sizeable margin, becoming the city’s first
Latino mayor in more than a century. Throughout the campaign, the
councilman presented himself as a dynamic, exciting leader,
promising to hire a thousand new police officers and set the
framework for an extensive rail system that would rival that of
other major cities such as New York.
“Make no mistake, we have big challenges in front of us. I
intend to be a mayor who confronts those challenges,”
Villaraigosa said in a televised speech, drawing cheers from a
crowd of supporters in attendance.
Villaraigosa, a UCLA alumnus and former teachers’ union
organizer, avoided a repeat of his 2001 loss to Hahn, garnering 59
percent of the vote, with 70 percent of precincts reporting at
press time.
“You all know that I love L.A. But tonight I really love
L.A.,” Villaraigosa said enthusiastically, over the cheers of
supporters. “I want to thank the people of Los Angeles for
putting their trust in me.”
The mayor-elect greeted his supporters at midnight, moments
after the Associated Press declared him the victor. He all but
formally declared victory, thanking his supporters and sharing with
them his plans for the coming years.
“Our purpose is to bring this great city together. Our
purpose is to draw fully and equally on the rich diversity of all
our communities,” he said.
Hahn, who spent the last few days painting his competitor as
soft on crime, is the first incumbent to be ousted in more than 30
years.
“We know we ran a great campaign,” Hahn said.
“Four years ago we said we were going to change this city.
This city is so much better off.”
The son of a beloved county supervisor, Hahn saw his already
tepid popularity drop further during the last few months amid
corruption allegations.
Early assessments indicate that Villaraigosa made significant
strides among Latino voters and liberal whites ““ while Hahn
lost much of his support from whites in the San Fernando Valley and
blacks, two constituencies that proved key to his successful 2001
bid for office.
The mayor-elect stressed the importance of a unified city.
“It doesn’t matter whether you grew up on the East
Side or the West Side,” he said. “It doesn’t
matter whether you go to work in a fancy car or in a
bus.”
Hahn, appearing drained from hours of last ditch efforts to hold
on to his job, opted to avoid concession and instead shared a
hopeful message with a crowd of supporters before going home for
the night.
“There’s a lot of cities in this country that
aren’t doing as well as we are,” he said in a televised
speech. “Los Angeles is a place where dreams can come true,
and people keep coming here from all over the world. They know this
is a place of opportunity.”
Less than a third of Angelenos eligible to vote made it out to
polls, mirroring the low turnout of the March primary election.
Polling places were set up at locations in and around campus,
including a fraternity house, local residences and De Neve
Plaza.
Among students, the hotly contested mayoral battle came and went
without much of a splash.
Turnout among students has improved compared to the March
primary election, “but a lot of them don’t even know
that the election is happening,” said poll worker Michelle
Gallagher.
The poll workers at De Neve Plaza were not surprised by the low
turnout.
“This is kind of expected because here on campus we
don’t have many people who vote. Students don’t vote
because they just don’t care,” said poll worker Nadia
Guardado, adding that she hopes more student groups would work to
promote elections.
Of the students who did take to the polls, some, like third-year
biochemistry and psychology student Sana Rezai, said they were not
very informed.
“(Hahn’s) not doing a bad job and it seems like
other people like him, so I just decided to vote for him,”
Rezai said.
Another student said he decided to opt for the Democrat ““
he was surprised to find out that both candidates were
Democrats.
“I’ve been voting Democratic for as long as I could
remember,” said fourth-year history and Chicana/o studies
student Francisco León.
León, who said he voted for Villaraigosa, hails from El
Sereno, a large share of the councilman’s constituency.
Though León, a Mexican American, believes it’s about
time Angelenos had a Latino at the helm of city hall, he said
results ““ not race ““ swayed him toward
Villaraigosa.
“There’s been a new public library built in El
Sereno. There have been improvements and I have seen proof of his
good deeds. If he would have done a horrible job in El Sereno, I
never would have voted for him,” León said.