Imelda Padilla declared victory in a runoff election for a seat on the Los Angeles City Council on Friday, June 30, after her political rival, Marisa Alcaraz, had conceded, and shortly before the office of the county registrar released an updated vote count that showed Padilla still holding a double-digit lead.
“My journey as a Northeast San Fernando Valley Champion began when I was 15 years old and joined the LA Youth Council. That experience sparked a lifelong passion for organizing and serving the Valley’s working families, seniors and youth. So today really feels like it’s been 20 years,” Padilla said in a statement.
“As we wait for the final results of this election to be certified, I am incredibly encouraged by the official semi-final declarations released on Tuesday night and I am ready to serve as the next councilor for the communities of the (Council District) 6,” he said. .
Alcaraz had yielded in a series of tweets earlier.
“Winning is never a guarantee; however, Team Alcaraz poured our heart, sweat and soul into this race. We ran a robust, intentional and community-focused campaign that unfortunately fell short of victory,” Alcaraz tweeted.
“Regardless of the results, I am glad that Council District 6 will have representation again and the District will have a voice on Council,” he wrote.
LA City Council District 6 candidate Marisa Alcaraz at a candidate forum in Van Nuys, CA, Wednesday, June 7, 2023. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Padilla, who also led the vote count April primary electionsappeared to be on track to win the City Council District 6 race after the semifinal results were released during Tuesday’s election night.
His lead over Alcaraz was more than 13 percentage points when the early results were out that evening, a lead that remained largely unchanged by the end of the night.
When the Register updated those numbers Friday afternoon, Padilla had 8,520 votes, 55.8 percent, while Alcaraz had 6,751 votes, 44.2 percent.
Even before Friday’s update from the record, some political observers and some Padilla’s supporters they called the race for Padilla for Wednesday.
Los Angeles City Council President Paul Krekorian, who had endorsed Alcaraz, also projected Padilla as the winner on Friday. He filed a motion Friday, long before Padilla declared victory, to nominate her to represent Council District 6 before final election results are certified next month.
Tentatively, it is expected that the county registrar will not certify the results until July 7th and that the county Board of Supervisors will not declare them official until July 11th. it won’t be found again until August 1st.
Waiting until August to swear in Padilla “may hinder his ability to fully prepare his office during the summer break and could affect his ability to help his constituents during that period,” Krekorian wrote in his motion .
The City Council has one more meeting, on Wednesday, July 5, before the break begins.
Assuming her current position as the winner of the election becomes official, Padilla will finish the term of former Councilwoman Nury Martínez, which ends in December 2024. Martínez resigned in October after she was caught making racist and derogatory comments about several people in a secretly recorded conversation while discussing the city’s redistricting process. District 6 Angelenos have not had a voting representative on the council since Martinez’s resignation.
Council District 6 represents the central and eastern parts of the San Fernando Valley, including Arleta, Lake Balboa, North Hills, North Hollywood, Panorama City, Sun Valley and Van Nuys.
The winner of the election will become the seventh woman on the 15-member council — the most women to ever serve on the Los Angeles City Council at the same time.
On paper, Padilla and Alcaraz seemed similar on many fronts: Both are Latinas educated in their 30s, raised by at least one immigrant father in the San Fernando Valley. They have similar political views, including supporting a minimum wage increase, enforcing the city’s anti-camping ordinance known as 41.18 in places like near schools, and neither support defunding the LAPD .
But while Padilla spent many years as a community organizer, Alcaraz built her career working at City Hall as a policy advisor.
In his victory statement Friday, Padilla had a message for those who voted for Alcaraz: “Let the voters and supporters of my opponents know, I will work every day to earn your support and trust.” .
Alcaraz, who has worked at City Hall for 15 years and is deputy chief of staff to Councilman Curren Price, tweeted that “as this chapter draws to a close, my role as a public servant will not.”
Alcaraz’s campaign was bolstered by the support of several major union groups. Padilla, who received endorsements from some labor groups, also had support from local business groups.
As election day approached, both candidates found themselves in the crosshairs of critics for having worked for aldermen who are tied to the latest scandals.
Padilla worked for Nury Martinez for 18 months about a decade ago, long before the now-ex-counsel resigned over his behind-the-scenes comments in leaked audio. And Alcaraz’s current boss, Councilman Curren Price, faces charges of embezzlement, perjury and conflict of interest.
Price has said he is innocent. He is scheduled to go on trial in July.
Some had wondered if Price’s situation would affect the Council District 6 election.
Alcaraz, in an interview this week, said advances on Price did not come up in his conversations with voters for the most part. Paul Mitchell, a political data analyst, said about 6,500 voters had mailed in their ballots for that race before news of the charges against Price broke. That represents about half of the first ballots cast, he said.
As for Padilla, she said Friday that she is ready to bring a new chapter of leadership to the Valley.
“I will not compromise our communities,” he said. “I will uphold the values and needs of our region, and I hope that with the continued support of all the Valley communities that rallied for my campaign, we will be proud of all of Los Angeles.”
