A good night for Karen Bass

Good morning, it’s Wednesday, June 3 and you can expect a slow-burn day: cloudy in the morning and radiantly nice in the afternoon (high 70s). 

As of 2:08 a.m. this morning, when the last tranche of county results were dropped, things were looking very good for incumbent Mayor Karen Bass. But we’re still early in L.A. County’s long vote-counting process and results could shift a bit. Here’s what we do know. 

California Governor’s Race

Zooming out to the biggest statewide race: Republican Steve Hilton had a first place lead, with nearly 28% of the vote, and former Biden cabinet secretary Xavier Becerra was a close second with a little over 25%. Progressive billionaire Tom Steyer was trailing in third, with nearly 20% the vote. Only the top-two finishers will continue to the November ballot.

We can’t definitively rule Steyer out yet. Recent local trends have shown that the later tranches of ballots tend to lean left — the so-called blue shift — meaning it’s not impossible that Steyer could still edge his way into the top two, though it’s looking increasingly less plausible.

L.A. Mayoral Race

Mayor Karen Bass was likely breathing a sigh of relief at her watch party Tuesday night at Koreatown’s LINE Hotel. Despite fears of an upset that could potentially knock her out of the top two, she was in a strong first place in early results, with about 35% of the vote. Reality TV star Spencer Pratt trailed her with 30%. And Councilmember Nithya Raman was in third place, with 22% of the vote. The Associated Press — the gold standard in election night calls — saw enough Tuesday night to declare Bass would be advancing to the November runoff, with the second-place finisher still unclear.

These early tallies should be viewed with the same “blue shift” principle in mind; in recent L.A. County elections, the later tabulations have favored progressive candidates — which would theoretically be good news for Raman. (Pratt had cut his lead from more than 10 points to 8 points as results trickled in into the wee hours.)

As election data expert Paul Mitchell told newsletter readers yesterday, this phenomenon happens because the people who turn in their ballots on the day of the election (and therefore are tabulated in later counts, unlike the early voters) are a younger, more diverse, renter-heavy electorate. Those demographics all tend to skew more progressive. 

Down-ballot L.A. City Races 

The L.A. City Attorney’s race marked the night’s biggest upset, with incumbent City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto looking like she won’t make the November runoff.

As of the last update, DSA-endorsed candidate Marissa Roy was in first place with 37%, prosecutor John McKinney was in second with 33% and Feldstein Soto was badly trailing with nearly 20%. We’ll have more on the race later this week, but in the meantime, there’s some excellent background in this recent piece from the L.A. Times. 

In the City Controller race, incumbent Controller Kenneth Mejia appears to have a commanding lead over challenger Zach Sokoloff (roughly 59% to Sokoloff’s 41%), despite the massive influx of cash supporting Sokoloff. Most of that money was spent on Mejia attack ads paid for by Sokoloff’s mom. 

In the Eastside Council District 1, incumbent Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez had 52% of the vote as of last count, putting her in a strong position to potentially avoid a runoff in the five-way race. 

In Council District 3 — a San Fernando Valley seat currently represented by termed-out Councilmember Bob Blumenfield — Tim Gaspar had a strong lead over second-place finisher Barri Worth Girvan in the three-way race. It’s possible he’ll finish with the 50+1 necessary to avoid a November runoff, though later ballots will likely favor his more progressive opponent. 

In Council District 5, incumbent Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky declared victory at her Tom Bergin’s watch party not long after polls closed, with 66% of the vote.

Monica Rodriguez was running unopposed in Council District 7, so she’ll have another four years representing her northeast San Fernando Valley seat.

In Council District 9, the open South L.A. race we wrote about last week, establishment candidate Jose Ugarte had about 41% of the vote at last count — a commanding lead, but not enough to avoid a November runoff in the six-way race. DSA-endorsed candidate Estuardo Mazariegos was a distant second, with 22% of the vote. 

In coastal Council District 11, incumbent Councilmember Traci Park finished the night with 65% of the vote to DSA-backed challenger Faizah Malik’s 35%. Park appeared to declare victory at her election night party, according to a Westside Current report. (CD 11 is a two-person race, meaning it will be decided in the June primary.)

Incumbent Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez has yet to declare victory in Council District 13, but with 64% of the vote, he has almost certainly avoided a runoff in his bid for another term representing a district that includes Silver Lake, Echo Park and Hollywood.

And incumbent Councilmember Tim McOsker had over 76% of the vote in the Watts-to-San Pedro Council District 15 — “dictator margins,” as City Hall observer Rob Quan joked on X last night.

Full county results can be found here, with the next set of results expected to be released between 4 and 5 p.m. this afternoon. See live results for the governor’s race here. 

The House Ethics Committee is investigating L.A. Rep. Jimmy Gomez for sexual misconduct allegations, CNN reported Tuesday. The investigation stems from a New York Post story in April that accused Gomez of kissing a much-younger aide (who worked for a different member of Congress) outside a party. Gomez’ team denied the report at the time, but he put out a statement Tuesday apologizing for “personal mistakes outside my marriage that have caused real pain to my wife and family.” Gomez said his actions were “consensual” and hadn’t violated any laws or ethics rules, but said he would cooperate with the inquiry. 

Gomez is married to Mary Hodge, a prominent L.A. political operative who was a deputy mayor in former L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti’s administration.

The CNN story broke on the same day Gomez’ name was on the ballot for his reelection bid, with progressive challenger Angela Gonzales-Torres fighting to oust him.

For Bestsellers, L.A. Material's guide to the top-selling items at local L.A. businesses, Pablo Goldstein takes us to The Magic Apple, the last magic store in all of Los Angeles. Owner / Magician Brent Geris pulls back the curtain to reveal the top five best selling magic tricks at his Studio City shop, while also giving insight into magic trick copyright law, the rise of tricks designed for social media, and how he responds when a fellow magician steals one of his tricks.

GETTING IN THE ROOM: The wild success of A24’s Backrooms began with a twentysomething assistant messaging the then-16-year-old YouTuber (turned director) after finding the video on Reddit, Puck’s Matt Belloni reports. 

AND THE AWARD GOES TO… Starting in 2027, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science will begin honoring great movie theaters. Selected theaters won’t be getting an Oscar statuette, but they will be featured on the Academy’s platforms and get a certificate. 

A page from Spectrum/200, a book commemorating Los Angeles’ bicentennial history published in 1983. The Los Angeles Ostrich Farm operated in Lincoln Heights from 1907 to 1951. 

AND FINALLY… A poem to pair with your morning coffee: “One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop. 

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