LA Mayor's Race: Bass takes lead over Caruso

LOS ANGELES - Rep. Karen Bass has pulled slightly ahead of billionaire real estate developer Rick Caruso as ballot-counting continues in the Los Angeles mayoral primary election -- but the two are still headed for a November runoff.

Initial election results from the June 7 vote showed Caruso in the lead, but when the latest tally was released Tuesday afternoon, Bass had 41.05% of the vote, with Caruso at 38.29%. With no candidate receiving more than 50% of the vote, the top two finishers will advance to the November general election.

In another surprising reversal, Tuesday's election update put community activist and public policy advocate Eunisses Hernandez in the lead over Councilman Gil Cedillo in the race to represent Council District 1. That race includes only two candidates and will be decided once all votes are counted. As of Tuesday afternoon, Hernandez had a 292-vote lead with 50.65% of the vote to 49.35% for Cedillo.

In the race for city attorney civil rights attorney Faisal Gill was leading the seven-candidate field with 96,127 votes, or 22.01%. Former federal prosecutor Marina Torres was in second place with 20.27% of the vote, but financial law attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto was 1,683 votes behind with 19.88% of the vote, followed by Deputy City Attorney Richard Kim in fourth with 17.81% of the vote. The top two finishers will face off in November.

Labor organizer Hugo Soto-Martinez widened his lead over incumbent Councilman Mitch O'Farrell, with Soto-Martinez receiving 38.35% of the vote versus O'Farrell's 33.88%. The two will advance to the November runoff.

An estimated 365,820 ballots from the June 7 election still remain to be tallied in the county, according to the Los Angeles County Registrar- Recorder/County Clerk's Office. The next update is scheduled to be released Friday.

Meanwhile, former Los Angeles City Councilwoman Jan Perry leads Culver City Mayor Daniel W. Lee by 1,422 votes in their battle to take on Sen. Sydney Kamlager in the Nov. 8 general election for the 37th Congressional District seat, which was vacated by Bass. Perry has 13,866 votes (18.7%), Lee 12,444 (16.8%) and Kamlager 32,507 (43.9%).

All three candidates are Democrats.

Nonprofit director/businesswoman Tina Simone McKinnor leads Lawndale Mayor Robert Pullen-Miles, a fellow Democrat, by 1,571 votes in the 62nd Assembly District special election, with McKinnor receiving 23,773 votes (51.6%) and Pullen-Miles 22,256 (48.4%).

The closest statewide race is for insurance commissioner where Republican Robert Howell's lead over Democratic Assemblyman Marc Levine shrank to 13,692 votes in the race for second place, according to figures released Tuesday by the Secretary of State's Office.

Howell, a cybersecurity equipment manufacturer, had been leading by 18,689 votes heading into Tuesday.

Howell has 995,303 votes (18%) to 995,303 (17.8%) for Levine, D-San Rafael. Incumbent Democrat Ricardo Lara leads with 1,805,029 votes (36.5%).

Lance Ray Christensen leads George Yang by 31,667 votes in the race for the second spot in the November ballot for state superintendent of public instruction. Christensen, an education policy executive, has 602,739 votes (11.7%) to 571,072 for Yang (11.1%). Incumbent Tony K. Thurmond leads the nonpartisan race with 2,381,917 votes (46.2%).

Christensen began Monday's vote count with a 582-vote lead over Yang, a software architect. Christensen led by 1,899 votes when Saturday's vote count concluded. Christensen was in third when Friday's vote count concluded, 2,124 votes behind Yang.

In the attorney general's race, former Assistant U.S. Attorney General Nathan Hochman extended his lead over fellow Republican Eric Early, an attorney and business owner, to 105,897 votes after leading by 101,089 at the start of Tuesday's vote count, 76,067 at the start of Monday's vote count, 75,878 at the conclusion of Saturday's vote count and 70,295 at the end of Friday's.

Hochman has 1,037,007 votes (18.3%) to 931,110 (16.4%) for Early. Appointed Democratic incumbent Rob Bonta leads with 3,105,094 (54.8%).

An estimated 1,740,280 ballots remain unprocessed statewide, according to the Secretary of State's Office.