Garcetti, Greuel And Others To Go Head-To-Head In May Runoff Election
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Councilman Eric Garcetti and City Controller Wendy Greuel will go head-to-head in a May runoff to become the next mayor of Los Angeles, according to unofficial final returns issued early Wednesday morning from the City Clerk's Office.
As of 2:20 a.m., a tally of mail-in ballots and 100 percent of precincts reporting showed Garcetti as the front-runner of the five major mayoral candidates with 32.93 percent of the vote, while Greuel had 29.19 percent.
Sole Republican candidate and talk show host Kevin James placed a distant third with 16.36 percent of the vote.
Since no candidate garnered more than 50 percent of the vote, Garcetti and Greuel will go head-to-head in a May 21 runoff election.
"We're gonna spend the next 10 weeks . . . and convince all parts of this city to bring our message of experience, of being able to make tough decisions of doing neighborhood turn around and bring that to the entire city, I hope as the next mayor of Los Angeles," Garcetti told KNX 1070 Wednesday.
Garcetti
"I'm gonna be the kind of mayor that's going to work on the tough issues like education and jobs and getting LA back on track. That's the message," Greuel told KNX 1070.
Greuel
Several other races resulted in no candidate receiving more than half the vote and will join the mayoral contenders in the second election.
Incumbent Carmen "Nuch" Trutanich (30 percent) and former Assemblyman Mike Freuer (44 percent) will face-off for Los Angeles City Attorney.
Lawyer Ron Galperin will go head-to-head with City Councilman Dennis P. Zine for City Controller. Both men received 37 percent of the vote.
Three city council seats also remained undecided.
Former California Sen. Gil Cedillo (49 percent) will square off with Jose Gardea (43 percent) for the 1st district.
State Sen. Curren Price (27 percent) will battle Ana Cubas (24 percent) for the 9th district seat.
And in the 13th district, Mitch O'Farrell (18 percent) and John Choi (16 percent) will runoff to represent the Silverlake and Hollywood areas.
For a full list of election night results, including school board races, click here.
