Final certified election data is in and results show Santa Monica voters opted for progressive candidates in races like LA County Third District Supervisor and Sheriff, falling to the left of primary election voting trends countywide.
Across LA County, incumbent Sheriff Alex Villanueva earned 454,556 votes, or 30.66 percent of votes cast in the sheriff’s race. Next up came challenger Robert Luna, the former Long Beach police chief, who took up 383,181 votes or 25.85 percent of total votes cast in the sheriff’s race. Placing third was Eric Strong, an LASD lieutenant, who took home 232,274 votes, or 15.67 percent of total votes cast. Luna and Villanueva will face off in the November 2022 general election.
But here in Santa Monica, voters favored Luna and Strong for the No. 1 and No. 2 spots, bumping Villanueva to an extremely narrow third place.
Among Santa Monica voters, Luna took 8,450 votes, or 36.71 percent of local ballots cast in the sheriff’s race, with Strong earning 4,832, or 20.99 percent of local votes. Villanueva took 28 fewer votes than Strong: 4,814, or 20.91 percent of Santa Monica votes.
Progressives also came out ahead among local voters in the race for Third District Supervisor. With redrawn Third District boundaries now encompassing the northern San Fernando Valley, Valley stalwart and California State Senate Majority Leader Emeritus Bob Hertzberg took first place in the June 8 primary, earning 105,923 votes, or 31.08 percent of votes cast across the District. Then came the two progressives: former West Hollywood Mayor Lindsey Horvath, with 94,528 votes, or 27.74 percent of votes cast, and State Senator Henry Stern, who earned 82,852 votes, or 24.31 percent.
But in Santa Monica, Horvath took the top spot, followed by Stern and then Hertzberg, just 62 votes behind. Final results showed Horvath took 7,548 votes (35.41 percent), followed by Stern with 5,591 votes (26.23 percent) and Hertzberg with 5,529 votes (25.94 percent).
As has been the trend in prior elections, Santa Monica voter turnout overall has ticked several percentage points higher than overall turnout across LA County. For the June 8, 2022, primary, local registered voters were nearly 28 percent more likely to cast a ballot than registered voters elsewhere in the County, with Santa Monica turnout at 36.4 percent, to countywide turnout at 28.5 percent after all ballots were counted.
The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s office certified final results on Friday, July 1, providing updated precinct bulletins on Monday morning, July 5. The primary results inform many races that will be decided in November, but local city council and school board races do not appear on primary ballots; the official filing period for those races opens later this month.
emily@smdp.com
