Imelda Padilla was out in front of City Council aide Marisa Alcaraz in a special election to fill the LA City Council seat vacated by its former president last year, according to semifinal results released late Tuesday.
The winner will join the Los Angeles City Council in August following its recess. Padilla led City Council aide Marisa Alcaraz 56.74%-43.26%, 6,684-5,096, according to semifinal official returns released Tuesday night by the Los Angeles Country Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk.
Special Election Results: Click here for updates
Turnout was 10.04%.
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The ballot count process continues after Election Day. All conditional voter registration ballots, provisional ballots, and vote by mail ballots returned by Election Day are processed, verified and counted, so official final results will likely come days after the voting deadline.
The next ballot count update is scheduled to be released Friday afternoon.
Padilla issued a statement to City News Service about the election.
"As someone who has been a community organizer and coalition builder in the Valley for 20 years, I am ready to be the community's champion in L.A. City Council to ensure that we get our fair share of resources to thrive," Padilla told City News Service in an email.
Padilla, a community relations manager, pledged to prioritize the homeless crisis.
Padilla was born in Van Nuys and raised in Sun Valley. She graduated from Roscoe Elementary School, Byrd Middle School and Polytechnic High School. She received a bachelor's degree from UC Berkeley and a master's degree from Cal State Northridge.
Padilla finished first in the April 4 primary with 25.65% of the vote but fell short of a majority, necessitating the runoff against Alcaraz, who was second in the seven-candidate field with 21.13%.
The 38-year-old Alcaraz is deputy chief of staff and environmental policy director to Ninth District Councilman Curren Price. She was raised in Lake Balboa and graduated from Birmingham High School. She received a bachelor's degree from UC Irvine and a master's degree from USC.
District 6 consists of Van Nuys, Arleta, Lake Balboa, Panorama City, Sun Valley and the eastern portions of North Hills and North Hollywood.
Nury Martinez represented the district until October, when she resigned first her Council presidency and then, two days later, her seat altogether after she was caught making racist comments in a meeting that was secretly recorded and leaked to the news media.
The winner will finish Martinez's term, which ends in December 2024.
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