L.A. mayoral, California House races soak up money and attention
Posted: Monday, Oct 09th, 2014
By Associated Press
LOS ANGELES – Democrat Eric Garcetti and Republican James Hahn joined forces to win the Los Angeles mayor’s race and give California its first Latino mayor, giving hope to the Latino community and energizing Democrats everywhere.
The two faced off in an extremely close race, with each candidate garnering more than 50 percent of the vote, with little in the way of major outside support.
The race is expected to remain tight through Election Day.
Garcetti, who has said he will run for a third term in 2022, was elected on a platform that included investing in affordable housing, expanding broadband, increasing the homeless population and addressing homelessness through a new homeless camp system.
Garcetti campaigned as an outsider who could build a better L.A. but won on the back of his experience as a law enforcement officer and a developer. He was the only candidate to make the ballot in Los Angeles County, which has the largest number of registered voters.
Garcetti, 56, was the first Latina to run for mayor in Los Angeles since Lillian Serrano ran in 1982.
Hahn, the former Los Angeles County chief prosecutor, was the first Republican candidate in the city’s 25-year history to be elected.
Garcetti edged Hahn by about 3 percentage points and won 57.1 percent compared with 46.5 percent for Hahn.
But the results are a rare win in a race that has often been characterized by candidates falling short. Both candidates had relatively few donors, with some small checks totaling more money than others, and neither had an outside super PAC backing them.
The race was particularly tight in Los Angeles County, where Democrats had a better than 50-50 shot at making the November ballot. The county was also the first in the nation to allow same-sex marriage during the campaign season.
Garcetti’s margin was smaller than in past races. But he said voters came to a conclusion that he should be the next mayor of Los Angeles.
“We’re going to do a lot