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Last updated at 3:30 a.m.
Secretary of State results page
Los Angeles County election results
California voters passed Proposition 28, which loosens term limits for state legislators, but voted down Proposition 29, the tobacco tax measure. Sen. Dianne Feinstein got almost four times more votes than her closest challenger — but she may not get even to 50% overall.
Jackie Lacey, the senior chief deputy in the District Attorney's office, finished first in the opening round of the race for Los Angeles County DA. Lacey would be the first female and first African American DA of Los Angeles should she win in November. Her opponent must be well known to her: Alan Jackson is a senior prosecutor in the office. Once somebody wins, a lot of heads are going to roll among those who picked the wrong horse.
Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich is the big loser of the whole election. He finishes third, out of the money, and now goes back to City Hall East seriously chastened. Nuch, meet Rocky Delgadillo.
Jackson aimed his post-results statement at the third-place finisher, who had the money and the backing of Gov. Jerry Brown, among other Democrats.
We see tonight as a huge victory. The Jackson campaign took on Carmen Trutanich and saved the people of Los Angeles County from a politician who was more concerned about winning the next office instead of winning the next case. We were outraised, outspent and outsized by the City Attorney, yet we prevailed because voters clearly want a modern prosecutor not a politician. We look forward to November where voters will once again have a choice to elect a modern prosecutor to lead the District Attorney’s office.
In the Valley's 30th congressional race, Rep. Brad Sherman glides in with about a ten point lead. Rep. Howard Berman's 1:30 a.m. spin says that "Congressman Berman tonight successfully navigated a bruising primary to move on to the November election."
Berman is well positioned against Brad Sherman to run a broad based campaign and go after every vote in the Valley.“Our strategy ensured that we would make it through the primary, but we’ve always had our eyes on the prize—winning in November,” said Berman. “We always knew this was going to be a tough fight and our campaign will have the resources to take on my opponent and his dismal record.”
Berman entered the primary race at a significant disadvantage. Congressman Sherman kept over half of the voters from his old district in the newly drawn 30th. A recent poll also showed Berman down 23% (40%-17%). In the final weeks of the primary Berman’s support nearly doubled while Sherman’s support stalled at just over 40%. by a solid ten points.
Sherman's side notes they were significantly outspent by Berman, but insists they won't be between now and November. As expected, among the minor challengers only Republican Mark Reed will get into double figures.
In the 44th House district, another clash of Democratic incumbents in the harbor area, Rep. Janice Hahn had a safe and sizable lead over Rep. Laura Richardson. They too will do it again in November, with Hahn as the favorite.
In the Westside's 50th assembly district, incumbent Betsy Butler gets to claim firsties by about 100 votes over Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom. Progressive favorite Torie Osborn just missed.Latest results
In the Valley's 39th assembly district, Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alaracon came in second to Raul Bocanegra. Show of hands: anyone think that will be one nasty runoff?
In the Santa Clarita Valley's 38th assembly district, the Democrat Edward Headington held the lead as the Republicans split the vote between Scott Wilk and Patricia McKeon.
Proposition 28, which alters the term limits on state legislators, passed easily. Newly elected lawmakers will now be able to spend 12 years in one house, rather than swapping places between houses. Proposition 29, the new tax on cigarettes, lost narrowly. Secretary of State
Sen. Diane Feinstein was hovering around 50%, with Republican Elizabeth Emken in second place with about 12%. Birther Republican Orly Taitz was down in the agate type. Secretary of State
Actress Roseanne Barr is running second in the Green Party vote for president, behind Jill Stein.
Wisconsin's Republican governor Scott Walker rebuffed a recall attempt and it wasn't that close. NYT
The New York Times electoral vote map currently gives Obama 217 votes, Romney 206 and 115 still too close to predict.
The Los Angeles Times tried a new, but by the looks of it pointless, "interactive" exercise. In the Times newsroom, business columnist David Lazarus sat in front of his computer and threw questions via Google Plus at City Editor Shelby Grad, who stood or sat in front of his computer in his living room at room. A web editor looked on silently at the bottom of the screen. The picture and sound quality were lower-grade than TV, of course, and so was the journalism when I looked in — so what's the point? There were no Times politics experts presented when I was observing. Lazarus kept trying to make something of the vote count in the DA's race with 4% of the vote in — kind of like declaring the best hitters based on one week of April baseball stats — while Grad (pictured) kept trying to cordially talk him down. Not the politically savvy LA Times of Bergholz, Boyarsky and Barabak, to be sure.
Did anyone you know invest time in a public radio or television website to get their election news during the vote counting? KPCC, KCRW and KCET all had special web efforts going.
