Global Courant
Imelda Padilla led rival Marisa Alcaraz in the first results Tuesday night at the special election for the Los Angeles City Council seat representing the northeastern and central San Fernando Valley, according to the Los Angeles County Registrar/Recorder.
Alcaraz, a top adviser to City Councilman Curren Price, and Padilla, a community advocate, are vying for the Council District 6 seat formerly held by City Council President Nury Martinez, who stepped down last year.
Martinez stepped down from the council in October after a leaked recording surfaced of her making inflammatory comments about her colleagues and various groups, paving the way for a special election.
Padilla, who had briefly worked for Martinez a decade ago, was greeted with cheers when she walked into her packed election party at a Mexican restaurant in Sun Valley shortly after 8:30 p.m.
“Oh my god what a great start,” Padilla told the crowd, which included Rep. Brad Sherman and former LA City Councilman Felipe Fuentes.
At Alcaraz’s Panorama City campaign event, about a dozen women danced in the center of the room while other campaign staffers, volunteers and supporters ate carne asada tacos on Styrofoam plates and gathered in corners.
Wade Watson, a 20-year member of the Southwest Mountain States Regional Council of Carpenters, had an “I Voted” sticker on his gray carpenter’s polo. He said Alcaraz – the daughter of a union member – came from ‘carpenter blood’ and ‘represents what we stand for’.
“There’s more to count,” Watson said.
Voter turnout was sluggish in the April primaries but was expected to pick up slightly in Tuesday’s election.
Just before polls closed on Tuesday, a steady stream of voters poured into a Panorama City Goodwill office to mark their ballots.
“Not many people know there’s an election,” said Jasmine Lemus, a 34-year-old dressed in a T-shirt, jeans and sunflower-covered Vans plaid shoes.
The Arleta native was called to vote after he finished working at a local nonprofit. But she had failed to convince her husband to vote. He felt like his vote wouldn’t make a difference, she said.
Lemus intended to vote for Padilla, she said, because she had heard good things about her.
“She is very involved with the organizations and the community and wants to improve everything that is going on with our homeless community,” Lemus said. “I hope the best for her.”
Overall, Lemus didn’t think city hall policymakers paid enough attention to her corner of the northeastern San Fernando Valley.
“We have more homelessness here, we have more families struggling, we have so many more businesses closing,” Lemus said as a handful of other voters trickled out the door before her.
With Alcaraz and Padilla agreeing on many city policies around homelessness and policing, the election focused in part on the differences in the candidates’ resumes.
Alcaraz praised her experience in drafting legislation to help street vendors and shop workers, while Padilla spoke of her community work in the district.
Both candidates also pledged to improve the city’s homelessness crisis and restore confidence in local government after Martinez’s resignation and a series of other City Hall political scandals.
In a blow to Alcaraz’s campaign, her boss, Price, was charged with 10 felonies two weeks before Tuesday’s election. The councilor said he is innocent and is fighting the charges, which are related to votes on developments and his wife’s affairs, as well as medical benefits she received.
But whether the allegations changed the outcome of the race was not clear. Many ballots have already been received.
Union groups, including those whose members have business for the city council, have spent a lot of money on the race.
The Southwest Mountain States Regional Council of Carpenters has spent more than $270,000 to support Alcaraz. IBEW Local Union 18, representing the workers of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, spent more than $100,000 in support.
United Firefighters of Los Angeles City, the union representing city firefighters, spent nearly $200,000 to support Padilla. A group supported by the California Apartment Assn. and the American Beverage Assn. spent over $219,000 to support Padilla. Laborers’ International Union of North America, Local 300, donated more than $200,000 to support Padilla.
