Two incumbents and a challenger remained on track to win the three open Santa Monica City Council seats Wednesday after the most recent update from the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk.
Councilwoman Lana Negrete, Mayor Caroline Torosis and Ashley Oelsen kept the top three spots after the county's first post-election update, according to semi-official results. Negrete led the 12-candidate field with 12,686 votes, or 16.1%. Torosis followed with 12,048 votes (15.3%), and Oelsen was third with 10,991 votes (14%).
Doug Trussler was fourth with 9,480 votes (12.1%), 1,511 votes out of a winning spot. His deficit grew from 1,398 votes in the overnight count. Daniel Ivanov (8,929) and Brett Morrow (8,919) were close behind. Phil Brock had 5,484 votes, followed by Ericka Lesley (3,228), Derrick Townsend (2,704), Eli Gill (2,535), Lindsay Davis (808) and Wade Kelley (788).
If the results hold it would be the first time in the City's history that residents elected an all female group of Councilmembers. Should all three women take their seats, the Council would have a 4-3 female to male majority.
The 4:28 p.m. update raised Santa Monica's count to 31,954 ballots cast in the council race, up from about 28,700 overnight. Countywide, 2,279,750 ballots have been counted, or 38.6% of registered voters. About 72% came in by mail and 28% at vote centers. Thousands of vote-by-mail and provisional ballots still have to be counted as mail ballots postmarked by Election Day will keep arriving for a week.
While vote totals shifted a lot in recent elections as voters with different politics tend to vote in different ways, this year’s results have remained steady through the early-vote and Election Day counts and now Wednesday's update.
The candidates were cautious but optimistic after the Wednesday update.
“I’m encouraged by the early results and so grateful to everyone who put their trust in me,” said Oelsen. “I’m proud of how we ran this campaign, stayed true to our values, and built something rooted in this community without accepting special interest contributions. While the remaining ballots are counted, I’m hopeful about the opportunity to serve and work together for the city we all love.”
Negrete said she was also waiting on final results.
“I’m encouraged and grateful for the support, but there are still votes to be counted, so I’m not celebrating just yet. This election reinforced for me how important it is to bring people together rather than divide them. I believe Santa Monica residents want less negativity and more meaningful conversations about the issues affecting their lives,” she said. “I’m already planning a monthly gathering that brings neighbors with different political perspectives together for respectful conversation. We may not always agree, but we should always be able to sit at the same table. Regardless of the final results, that’s the kind of community I want to keep building.”
Torosis said results were trending in the right direction.
“I'm encouraged by how the results are trending and grateful for the support voters have shown from across Santa Monica,” she said. “Every update has moved in the right direction. This race drew a crowded field of highly qualified candidates who care deeply about our city, and the conversation we had about our future was better because each of them was in it. With about 850,000 ballots still to be counted countywide and most expected to be tallied in the coming days, every one of them deserves to be counted. I'm feeling great about where we are, and I can't wait to keep working to make Santa Monica more affordable, safer, and economically resilient.
Rent Control Board
In the race for three Rent Control Board seats, Sue Himmelrich led with 17,876 votes (30.3%). Incumbent Kurt Gonska had 15,993 (27.1%) and Heather Thomason had 13,267 (22.5%). Soledad Marcial (6,319) and Zoë Muntaner (5,527) trailed. Marcial was 6,948 votes behind the third-place spot.
City measures
Voters were approving four of the five city measures and rejecting the school parcel tax:
- Measure TT, which keeps the existing hotel tax rates and lets the council set "Major Event Periods," was passing with 72.8%.
- Measure RR, a charter amendment barring evictions for nonpayment when a tenant owes less than one month of average fair market rent, was passing with 70.7%.
- Measure VV, which extends eviction protections to tenants of single-family homes and condos, was passing with 61.6%.
- Measure GG, a charter amendment that affirms the city's just-cause eviction laws and changes Rent Control Board terms and fees, was passing with 58.8%.
- Measure ES, a $495-per-parcel tax for Santa Monica schools, was failing with 52.9% of voters opposing the measure. It needs a simple majority to pass.
School boards
In the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District race for four seats, Alicia Mignano led with 20,115 votes. Robbie Staenberg (18,685), Laurie Lieberman (17,948) and Stacy Rouse (17,301) followed. Harry Leshner trailed with 9,045.
In the Santa Monica College Board of Trustees race for four seats, Sion Roy led with 20,178 votes, followed by Tom Peters (18,908), Luis Barrera Castanon (17,759) and Kera Blades-Snell (15,932). Oscar de la Torre was fifth with 11,244.
Regional races
Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, was cruising to reelection in the 36th Congressional District. He had 148,056 votes (70.7%) to 61,486 (29.3%) for Republican Houston Brignano.
In the 24th State Senate District, which includes Santa Monica, Democrat Brian Goldsmith led fellow Democrat John M. Erickson with 142,968 votes (58%) to 103,611 (42%).
State Sen. Ben Allen, D-Santa Monica, trailed fellow Democrat Jane Kim in the race for state insurance commissioner. Statewide, Kim had 3,464,693 votes (52%) to Allen's 3,199,117 (48%), a lead of about 265,600 votes.
In Los Angeles, City Councilmember Nithya Raman widened her lead over Mayor Karen Bass. Raman had 405,193 votes (51.7%) to Bass' 379,069 (48.3%). The gap is 26,124 votes, up from about 16,600 overnight. In the city attorney's race, Marissa Roy led John McKinney 488,064 (66.5%) to 245,511 (33.5%).
The county will release morning and afternoon updates for the next two days and then once a day between 4 - 5 p.m. for the next two weeks as necessary. The registrar must certify results by early December.
Voting problems
Several Santa Monica candidates reported problems voting in person on election day due to a new law designed to protect candidate privacy.
Assembly Bill 1392 automatically made candidates' voter registrations confidential unless they opted out. A state Assembly committee analysis called the inability to vote in person "an unforeseen consequence" of the law and similar problems affected Los Angeles City Controller Kenneth Mejia and other candidates in the June 2 primary.
Candidates are supposed to be able to opt-out of the law and vote in person but were unable to do so this week. Instead, some were given provisional ballots while others had to travel to Norwalk to register at the County headquarters.
A follow-up law enacted in September gives the state until 2027 to set up a way for confidential voters to vote in person.