The margins in Long Beach’s First City Council District race continue to thin.
Mary Zendejas, Long Beach’s incumbent First District councilmember, appears to be headed for a November runoff against challenger Anthony Bryson after the latest round of election results released by the Los Angeles County registrar’s office at about 4 p.m. on Friday, June 12.
This marks the registrar’s ninth post-Election Night results update. In total, more than 2.2 million ballots have been counted, though there are still outstanding votes left to be tallied.
Unless one candidate wins a majority vote during the primary – that is, more than 50% of the votes – the top two candidates will carry on their campaigns to the November general election. Races with just two candidates will be decided by the results of the June 2 primary.
For Long Beach Council District 1, six candidates were vying for the seat that represents much of the downtown area. While the incumbent has maintained a relatively stable lead over her challengers since Election Night, Zendejas has not managed to earn enough support to win the race outright and avoid a runoff in November.
Mary Zendejas, Long Beach’s incumbent First District Councilmember, appears to be headed for a November runoff against challenger Anthony Bryson after the latest round of election results released by the Los Angeles County registrar’s office.
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Mary Zendejas, Long Beach’s incumbent First District Councilmember, appears to be headed for a November runoff against challenger Anthony Bryson after the latest round of election results released by the Los Angeles County registrar’s office.
Zendejas, as of Friday, had 50.25% of the vote — up slightly from her vote count in the previous election results update, which totaled 50.28%. Her nearest challenger, community organizer and activist Anthony Bryson, had 17.74% of the votes cast in his favor.
Other candidates followed with real estate agent and small business owner Deb Kahookele with 12.82%, Long Beach Continuum of Care board co-chair Tamika Wagner-Osio at 12.04%, trucker and U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary member Brock Goleman with 3.77%, and retired laboratory technician Lori Logan with 3.40%.
The race for Long Beach’s First District, as of Wednesday, appears to be the only City Council race where the incumbent is not poised to win their bid for reelection.
Another close race is in Long Beach’s Fifth District, which runs east and west from the Orange County border to the Los Angeles River, and includes most of the Long Beach Airport.
Incumbent Megan Kerr was challenged by Tara Riggi, a real estate agent who also serves on the California Heights Neighborhood Association. Kerr was leading with 53.91% of votes, while Riggi had 46.09%.