Sen. Holly Mitchell Easily Defeats Herb Wesson, Putting 5 Women On The LA County Board Of Supervisors
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — State Sen. Holly Mitchell earned a landslide victory over Los Angeles City Councilman Herb Wesson in their race to replace termed-out L.A. County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas on the board's 2nd District, and in the process made some history.
Mitchell cruised to victory with 60.89% of the vote, compared to Wesson's 39.11%, according to the latest numbers Wednesday afternoon from the Los Angeles County Registrar's Office. Mitchell held a lead of more than 106,000 votes.
Mitchell's victory means the county board once referred to as "five little kings" will be run by five women for the first time in its history.
Although initial vote-counting from the election wrapped up early Wednesday morning, there were still an unknown number of ballots remaining to be counted. But they were unlikely to erase a 100,000-vote deficit for Wesson.
The five-member county Board of Supervisors controls a $37 billion budget and more than 110,000 county employees working to combat homelessness, manage the county jail and hospital systems, and oversee child welfare, public safety and myriad other programs for more than 10 million L.A. County residents.
Wesson was endorsed by the L.A. Democratic Party, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, County Supervisor Janice Hahn, the unions that represent county firefighters and sheriff's deputies, the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and others.
Mitchell was endorsed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, County Supervisor Hilda Solis, the United Farm Workers union and its founder Dolores Huerta and unions representing healthcare workers and public defenders among others.
A coalition of Black, Latino, Asian American, Pacific Islanders and Muslim supporters who organized a major get-out-the-vote effort for Mitchell pointed to a recent poll showing the senator pulling ahead significantly with undecided voters.
Ridley-Thomas — who himself is vying to replace Wesson in representing Los Angeles City Council District 10 — had not endorsed either candidate for the 2nd District, which covers an area ranging from downtown south through Inglewood and much of South L.A. to Carson, and as far west as Mar Vista.
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)
