LOS ANGELES — Voters took to the polls throughout California on Tuesday in a primary election that will help determine Los Angeles’ next mayor and prove a test for San Francisco’s progressive prosecutor.
Early turnout was dismal before polling sites opened, and voting numbers showed few signs of progress early Tuesday afternoon. Although every registered voter in the state was mailed a ballot, only 18% had gotten them to election officials or weighed in at early in-person vote centers, according to election data reviewed by consulting firm Political Data Intelligence.
The Los Angeles mayor’s race, the city’s first open mayoral primary in nearly a decade, is among the closest watched on the ballot as city voters — beset by a homelessness crisis, crime and a skyrocketing housing market — signaled they were in a pessimistic mood.
“I’m fed up,” said Paul Pulido, a 63-year-old security manager, who dropped off his ballot at a voting center in Lincoln Heights.
Pulido, a Republican, said he came out to vote against Gov. Gavin Newsom and for mayoral candidate Rick Caruso. The polls sat across from train tracks, where a queue of dilapidated RVs line the road.
“This park used to be beautiful,” he said, referring to the greenery surrounding the polling station.
Signs of the city’s low turnout were clear Tuesday morning, as poll workers at several centers in Los Angeles outnumbered voters.
“It’s been slow,” said Cristin Doyle, the lead poll worker at the Lincoln Park Senior Citizen Center, where Pulido had voted.
The center, which has been open for more than a week, hasn’t seen more than 20 voters a day, Doyle said, adding that she didn’t expect more than a few hundred people to come in Tuesday.
Marta Godoy, a Lincoln Heights resident, said she was tired of a lack of action combating the homelessness crisis.
“They talk and they talk. Everyone makes promises, but then nothing happens,” she said of politicians.
Still, the 66-year-old Mexican immigrant said she was moved by the personal story of her local city councilman, Kevin de León, who is running for mayor.
“He’s the son of immigrants,” she said.
The election comes after a frantic few weeks of campaigning across the city, which has included increasingly personal and partisan attacks slung from each camp. Caruso’s supporters have attacked opponent Karen Bass’ attendance record in Congress, while Bass’ backers have talked nonstop about the businessman previously being registered as a Republican, as well as his previous ties to politicians who oppose abortion.
Since Caruso announced his candidacy in February, the Los Angeles Times’ polling has found the contest to be largely a two-person race, with Caruso and Bass appealing to contrasting bases of support.
Concerns over rising crime have provided the driving force behind Caruso’s campaign, which early on drew strong support from more conservative Angelenos, especially white voters. Over time, however, he also has won over a growing number of Latino and Black male voters, the poll found. Bass gained ground with the biggest segments of the city’s electorate — her fellow Democrats, liberals and women. She also has maintained a strong lead among Black women, the poll found.
A poll published Sunday showed 38% of likely voters support Bass. Caruso, who has bombarded L.A. airwaves with millions of dollars of advertising, has 32% support.
With 15% of likely voters saying they were still undecided, either of the two could still come out on top in the primary, but it’s unlikely either candidate would win the 50% needed to avoid a November runoff.
Voters also will cast their ballots for governor and U.S. senator, though Newsom and Sen. Alex Padilla — both Democrats — are expected to win those races.
Tuesday afternoon, Milan Whippa Wiley was determined to cast her provisional ballot to support Bass, or “Auntie Karen.” The 39-year-old said she was kicked off the voter roll when she renewed her driver’s license and came to her alma mater, Crenshaw High School, to ensure that her choice for mayor would be counted.
“I’ve been to two polling places now — I’ve been dealing with this for hours,” she said. “I have to go to work, but I wasn’t going to feel OK until I was part of the election process. I do it for my ancestors because I know there are people who died for this.”
Whippa Wiley said she was friends with Bass when the pair were kids.
“My earliest memories of her, she would be in the streets, hitting the pavement,” she said of the mayoral candidate.
Lisa Alexander, 60, was happy to vote in person after a long pandemic quarantine. As a mother of 10 and a grandmother, she said the Los Angeles County sheriff’s race was especially important. More than a decade ago, her son was shot in a drive-by. He was not a gang member, Alexander said, adding that deputies delayed medical treatment because they were securing the area to ensure no gang members were allowed in. The bullet left her son blind.
“How are you finding the so-called gangs when you are a gang yourself?” Alexander said, referring to the “deputy gangs” in the Sheriff’s Department.
She voted for onetime internal affairs investigator Eric Strong, after hearing singer Stevie Wonder endorse him.
“That was a real motivator for me,” she said. “The harassment, the disrespect when it comes to Black and brown men in our community.”
Across L.A., voters also weighed in on a new city attorney and city controller as well as several City Council races. The District 3 Board of Supervisors seat is up for grabs, as are seats on the Los Angeles school board.
Among the competitive statewide races is the bid for attorney general, an election that comes amid debate over rising crime and the effects of decades of criminal justice reform in California. Democratic incumbent Rob Bonta is up against an independent, Sacramento District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert, and two Republicans, former Assistant U.S. Attorney General Nathan Hochman and Los Angeles attorney Eric Early.
San Francisco voters will decide whether to recall District Attorney Chesa Boudin, who was elected in 2019 on a platform of criminal justice reform but has faced backlash over crime and homelessness.
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer, who has weathered criticism after racist comments he made while discussing the case of a Black defendant, faces several challengers. And in the race for California controller, Republicans hope a divided field of Democrats will allow the party’s single candidate to emerge on top.
But even then, Democrats are likely to have the advantage in November. Republicans have not won a general election for statewide office since 2006, the year Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger nabbed reelection and Steve Poizner became insurance commissioner.
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(Times staff writer Cindy Chang contributed to this report.)
