As primary vote counting began Tuesday evening, Assemblywoman Laura Friedman (D-Glendale) took an early but decisive lead in the race to replace outgoing Rep. Adam P. Schiff in the Los Angeles-area House seat.
Friedman still held a solid lead as of 2 a.m. Wednesday, when the latest tranche of results was shared by the Los Angeles County Recorder's Office. Republican intensive care physician Alex Balikian came in second.
State Sen. Anthony Portantino (D-Burbank) came in third, while Los Angeles' former Atty. Mike Feuer, also a Democrat, narrowly trailed Portantino in fourth place. The province is expected to announce the next set of vote counts between 4 and 5 p.m. on Wednesday.
The top two finishers, regardless of party, will go on to the general election in November. Early results also showed that two other Los Angeles-area House races in strongly Democratic districts are shaping up to include a Democrat and a Republican on the November ballot.
California's 30th District — which includes a wide swath of Los Angeles, all of West Hollywood, Glendale, Burbank, and part of Pasadena — is overwhelmingly blue, with registered Democrats outnumbering Republicans more than 3 to 1. for more than two decades, but He left to run for the late Dianne Feinstein's Senate seat.
Given the political makeup of the district, Friedman is likely to win in November if Balikian joins her in the runoff. But the results could change dramatically in the coming hours and days as more ballots are counted. The race will be livelier if two well-funded Democrats face off in November.
The field vying to replace Schiff was filled with 15 candidates — a long list that also included Los Angeles Unified school board member Nick Melvoin and trans activist J.K. “Maebe A. Girl” Pudlo, and former “Boy Meets World” star Ben Savage. , among other things.
Friedman has been a leader on transportation, housing and environmental issues in the Assembly, writing the state's 2019 so-called fur coat ban as well as laws that make it easier to build accessory dwelling units to ease the housing crisis and prevent local governments from setting aside parking spaces as part of most development near transit stations. .
In the San Fernando Valley seat currently held by retiring Rep. Tony Cárdenas (D-Pacoima), Cárdenas' endorsed candidate Assemblywoman Luz Rivas (D-North Hollywood) decisively finished first with about half the vote. Republican Benito “Benny” Bernal was a distant second in the race for California's 29th District as of early Wednesday morning.
In California's 31st District — where San Gabriel Valley voters are choosing a new representative for the first time in a generation following Rep. Grace F. Napolitano's decision to retire — results remained close as of early Wednesday morning. But Democrat and former Congressman Gil Cisneros was leading the pack, while Republicans Daniel Martinez and Pedro Antonio Casas were narrowly in second and third place, respectively. In fourth and fifth place were state Senators Susan Rubio (D-Baldwin Park) and Bob Archuleta (D-Pico Rivera).
