LOS ANGELES — To pull off his improbable win in 2018, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva convinced liberal Democratic voters he was one of their own.
Many of them were in for a rude shock. Villanueva has spent his first term in office thumbing his nose at the "woke left" and rebranding himself as a swashbuckling lawman who holds court on Fox News and has gained a following among some on the right.
Despite anger over Villanueva's political shift, L.A. County Democratic clubs and progressive advocacy groups, hampered by infighting and indecision, have failed to unite behind any of the candidates seeking to unseat the sheriff, according to party officials, delegates and voters.
