Mary Zendejas, Long Beach’s incumbent First District councilmember, could narrowly avoid 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 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 18.
This marks the registrar’s 10th post-Election Night results update. In total, more than 2.2 million ballots have been counted and remaining ballots are pending voter response and signature verification, according to the registrar’s office.
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 vied 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’ margins have continued to thin with each update from the registrar’s office, inching her slightly further away from the majority needed to win outright.
But with nearly all the ballots counted, the incumbent may be able to narrowly clinch an outright win, avoiding a November runoff. Zendejas, as of Thursday, had 50.24% of the vote — down slightly from her vote count in the previous election results update, which totaled 50.25%. Her nearest challenger, community organizer and activist Anthony Bryson, had 17.72% of the votes cast in his favor.
Real estate agent and small business owner Deb Kahookele was next with 12.83%, while Long Beach Continuum of Care board co-chair Tamika Wagner-Osio had 12.03%, trucker and U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary member Brock Goleman had 3.77%, and retired laboratory technician Lori Logan had 3.41%.
The registrar is tentatively scheduled to certify the election results on June 26.