Alex Villanueva looks to unseat Janice Hahn from LACo Board of Supervisors

LOS ANGELES - Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva is looking to return to elected office in Tuesday's election, taking on incumbent county Supervisor Janice Hahn, who is also being challenged by Rancho Palos Verdes Mayor John Cruikshank.

The District 4 seat represents more than 50 communities, including Artesia, Long Beach, Pico Rivera, Torrance, Whittier, along with the unincorporated areas of East La Mirada, Santa Catalina Island, Westfield, and the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Harbor City, San Pedro and Wilmington.

Hahn, a longtime politician hailing from one of California's most prominent political families, is running for her third and final term. She was elected in 2016 and re-elected to another term in 2020. Previously, she served three terms on the Los Angeles City Council representing the 15th District before being elected to Congress in California's 36th and, later, 44th districts.

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Hahn, 71, said her top priority is confronting the homelessness crisis. According to her campaign's website, "Hahn is leading the implementation of California's new Care Court in L.A. County, which is helping get unhoused people with severe mental health issues off our streets and into supervised care facilities to receive the treatment they need."

As a supervisor, Hahn has "created housing solutions across her district quickly and affordably using former motels and vacant government property," her campaign website states.

The campaign also touts her efforts to improve public safety and emergency response.

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"She has invested in local police, firefighters and paramedics to reduce emergency response times and is working to increase the number of Metro police in stations and on trains to make LA Metro safer," Hahn's campaign said.

Hahn is also fighting to "reduce gun violence and keep guns out of the hands of dangerous criminals, including those accused of domestic violence."

During his term as sheriff, Villanueva often clashed with the Board of Supervisors. He was also accused of mishandling certain issues within his department, including the investigations into deputy gangs and refusing to enforce COVID 19 vaccine mandates -- criticisms he vocally rebuffed.

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Villanueva, 61, served as sheriff from 2018 to 2022, when voters gave the job to former Long Beach Sheriff Robert Luna. Before being elected sheriff, Villanueva was a deputy sheriff for more than 30 years. He is running on a platform of restoring safety and security, and reducing the impact of homelessness on families and businesses.

"The Board of Supervisors has a responsibility to provide for the health, safety and welfare of the county," Villanueva said in September, when he announced his candidacy. "In that regard, they have failed absolutely miserably."

Villanueva told LAist that when it comes to improving public safety, he would welcome a new district attorney "who will prosecute for starters."

He also said he wants to rebuild the sheriff's department "after it was gutted by the defunding movement."

Additionally, Villanueva wants to repeal Prop 47, which voters passed in November 2014. It classified retail theft under $950 as a misdemeanor, not a felony.

Villanueva told LAist he wants to improve the experience for Metro riders: "The MTA is a transit system, not a sanctuary or a social experiment. The suffering of passengers needs to end, which means we have to enforce the law fairly, restrict use of the system to paying passengers. Homeless outreach should be the responsibility of municipal and county government, not the MTA."

On the issue of homelessness, Villanueva told LAist he would expand residential treatment for mental illness by replacing the Men's Central Jail with a mental health treatment center. He would also reopen St. Vincent Medical Center and L.A. County General Medical Center as psychiatric hospitals.

Cruikshank is not only the mayor of Rancho Palos Verdes but also the president and CEO of two Southern California engineering firms.

"The current Board of Supervisors lacks the experience and knowledge required to address the challenges that our county is currently facing," Cruikshank said on his campaign's website.

Cruikshank, 57, said he will tackle what he calls the core four issues: public safety, infrastructure, homelessness and economic empowerment.

"We need to reopen our jails and start putting the bad guys back in them," Cruikshank said. He added that if the county D.A. is "soft on crime," then it is the "law-abiding citizens who suffer the consequences."

On the issue of homelessness, Cruikshank told LAist he would "eliminate the housing first policy. Bring back conservatorships to get the mentally ill the real help they need."

Cruikshank said he will also tackle the housing crisis.

"We need to allow each county and city to be able (to) convert any underutilized buildings into housing," he said on his campaign's website.

The supervisorial seats are nonpartisan. If no one wins more than 50% of the votes, the top two candidates will compete in a November runoff election. The candidates up for reelection have history on their side, as it's been 44 years since an incumbent county supervisor has lost a reelection bid.

The L.A. County supervisors rank among the most influential local government officials nationwide. The five board members govern a county with approximately 10 million residents. Supervisors are elected to serve four-year terms and can remain in office for up to 12 consecutive years.