Wave Staff Report
LOS ANGELES — While the race for Los Angele mayor between U.S. Rep. Karen Bass and developer Rick Caruso is garnering must of the headlines and television advertising space, there are other races drawing interest prior to Election Day Nov. 8.
One of those is the race to replace Bass in the 37th Congressional District. State Sen. Sidney Kamlager is facing former Los Angeles City Councilwoman Jan Perry in the race.
Kamlager, who served in the Assembly before moving on to the state Senate after Holly Mitchell was elected to the county Board of Supervisors, was the leader in a field of seven candidates in the June primary, receiving twice as many votes as Perry did.
Bass has endorsed Kamlager to represent the predominantly Democratic district that stretches from South Los Angeles to Culver City.
Kamlager said she is focused on “expanding voting rights,” “reproductive justice,” “health care for all,” “criminal justice reform focused on diversion, redemption and rehabilitation,” “job creation to create economic justice and opportunities for all communities” and “innovative investment in housing.”
Perry pledged that, if elected, her top priorities as a congresswoman would be “preserving the environment, improving education, stopping an alarming increase in violent crime, expanding access to affordable, quality health care, and ensuring that America pursues a foreign policy that is sane, just, and maintains our strong support for our allies.”
With Kamlager running for Congress, her 28th state Senate District seat is open.
Lola Smallwood-Cuevas, a Democrat community organizer and educator from Inglewood; is facing Democrat Cheryl Turner, an attorney from Los Angeles. The district includes Mar Vista, Palms, Culver City and parts of South Los Angeles.
In another state Senate race, Democratic incumbent Bob Archuleta faces Republican Mitch Clemons in the 30th District. The district includes Montebello, Pico Rivera, Downey, Whittier, Santa Fe Springs, Norwalk and Bellflower.
In other congressional races, Rep. Judy Chu is seeking reelection in the 28th District against Republican Wes Hallman, in a district that includes Monterey Park and Alhambra.
In the 34th Congressional District, serving Boyle Heights, Eagle Rock, Lincoln Heights, Highland Park and East Los Angeles, Democrat incumbent Jimmy Gomez is acing another Democrat, David Kim.
In the 38th Congressional District, Democratic incumbent Linda Sanchez is facing Republican Eric Ching in a district that includes Montebello, Pico Rivera, Whittier, Santa Fe Springs and Norwalk.
The 42nd Congressional District was created during redistricting by combining the old 40th District, represented by Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard and the 47th District, represented by Alan Lowenthal. Both of those veteran lawmakers chose to retire, leaving Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia, a Democrat, to battle Orange County Republican John Briscoe. The district includes the Southeast Los Angeles County cities of Huntington Park, Downey, Bellflower, Maywood, Huntington Park, Bell, Bell Gardens and Commerce as well as Long Beach and extending into Orange County.
In the 43rd Congressional District, veteran U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters will face Republican Omar Navarro. Waters defeated Navarro by almost 47,000 votes in the June primary when she received 74% of the vote. The district includes Inglewood and parts of South Los Angeles.
Democratic Rep. Nanette Barragan is seeking reelection in the 44th Congressional District against Republican Paul Jones in a district that includes Compton and Carson.
In the race for Los Angeles city attorney, Faisal Gill and Hydee Feldstein Soto are battling to succeed incumbent Mike Feuer, who is termed out of office. Gill finished four percentage points ahead of Soto in a tightly contested June primary.
Certified public accountant and housing justice advocate Kenneth Mejia is running against City Councilman Paul Koretz for city controller. Koretz can’t seek re-election to the City Council because of term limits.
Mejia defeated Koretz by more than 20 percentage points in the June primary.
on their way to a November runoff. Mejia received 38.68% of the vote, compared to 24.98% for Koretz.
In another county race, incumbent Sheriff Alex Villanueva is facing a runoff against retired Long Beach Police Chief Robert Luna.
In state Assembly races, Democrat Mike Fong faces Republican Burton Brink in the 49th Assembly District, which includes Monterey Park and Alhambra.
In the 52nd Assembly District, Democratic incumbent Wendy Carrillo is facing a Democratic challenger in Mia Livas Porter. That district includes Eagle Rock, Highland Park, Lincoln Heights, El Sereno and East Los Angeles.
In the 55th Assembly District, Democratic incumbent Isaac Bryan will face Keith Girolamo Cascio, a Republican software developer from Los Angeles. The district includes Culver City, Mar Vista, Palms and parts of South Los Angeles.
In the 56th Assembly District, Democrat Lisa Calderon is seeking a second term against Republican Jessia Martinez, a member of the Whittier City Council. The district includes Whittier and Pico Rivera.
The 61st Assembly District seat is open due to the recent resignation of Assemblywoman Autumn Burke. Tina Simone McKinnor, a Democrat and a nonprofit director from Los Angeles; won a June special election to replace Burke and is now running for a full two-year term. Robert Pullen-Myles, a Democrat and mayor of the city of Lawndale, is on the ballot, but Pullen-Myles quit campaigning for the seat in August, choosing to seek reelection in Lawndale. The district includes Venice, Westchester, Inglewood and Hawthorne.
In the 62nd Assembly District, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon is being challenged by fellow Democrat Maria Estrada. The district covers Maywood, Huntington Park, South Gate, Lynwood, Paramount and Bellflower.
Downey Mayor Blanca Pacheco, a Democrat, will face Raul Ortiz, a Republican pest control manager and Christian preacher who lives in La Mirada, in the 64th Assembly District that covers Bell, Bell Gardens, Downey, Norwalk and Santa Fe Springs.
Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia used to represent much of the district, but she relinquished her seat to run in the June primary in the 42nd Congressional District, where she finished a distant third.
Ortiz, the only Republican on the primary ballot, was the leading vote-getter in June, receiving almost 31% of the vote. Pacheco led a field of five Democrats and received 25.4% of the vote.
The ballot also includes the race for governor and U.S. Senate as well as other state constitutional offices and county judge races.
Los Angeles County is operating 118 vote centers that will be open daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. through Nov. 7, allowing residents to cast their in-person ballots. Beginning Nov. 5, about 640 vote centers will be open across the county.
Residents can visit any vote center throughout the county through Election Day Nov. 8, regardless of their place of residence.
On Election Day, the vote centers will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Residents can locate the nearest vote center by searching online at locator.lavote.gov.
Residents can also return their vote-by-mail ballots at drop boxes located throughout the county.
(Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this article mistakenly listed Marina Torres as Faisal Gill’s opponent for Los Angeles city attorney. The Wave apologizes for the error.)
