Long Beach Election Night Coverage

10:43pm | City Auditor Laura Doud on why she supported Johnson:”The first thing I recognized in James was his tremendous intellect…and his ability to see the big picture.” Doud also praised Johnson’s “inate understanding of budget and finance issues.”  

10:40pm | James Johnson stands at 52.9% (3.408 votes) and Tonia Reyes Uranga is at 47.1% (3,034 votes).
   
10:11pm | The westside’s city council district is set to award a win to Long Beach Assistant City Auditor James Johnson’s year-long effort to seek his first elected office and at the same time end the incumbent Tonia Reyes Uranga’s attempt at a semi-historic third term.

Despite the cheers of supporters this evening as he took the stage, Johnson cautioned “this will not be decided tonight.”  He pointed out that there are 400 provisional ballots that will not be counted tonight and 300 absentee ballots that are being carried in and not likely to be counted tonight either.

Click here to view the Long Beach City Clerk election results web site.
  
During the April 2010 election, Johnson won 45.0% of the vote while Reyes Uranga earned 30.7% as a write-in candidate, forcing today’s run-off election because neither candidate could capture a majority of the vote. Johnson maintained a sizable vote-by-mail lead over Reyes Uranga throughout early returns tonight.

A loss of Reyes Uranga tonight leaves Councilmember Robert Garcia as the sole Latino on the Long Beach City Council and with James Johnson’s win makes him one of the youngest Councilmembers in history – along with Councilmember Garcia – both are in their early 30s.

Johnson gained the endorsement of Long Beach elected officials such as Mayor Bob Foster and outgoing 9th District Councilmember Val Lerch.  Johnson’s current boss, Long Beach City Auditor Laura Doud, supported Johnson since the beginning of his campaign. He ran on a platform of financial responsibility – and, with an economics degree from Harvard, expertise – and long term sustainability. He was raised in the 7th District before setting off for college. A political newcomer, Johnson cast himself as a fresh face in a climate of economic uncertainty and touted the highly-regarded work that has been done during his time with the City Auditor’s office. 
 
10:02pm | 3rd District Councilmember Gary DeLong said this regarding James Johnson: “Change we can believe in.”
 
9:58:pm | Vice Mayor / 9th District Councilmember Val Lerch at the Johnson campaign on early numbers showing Johnson leading: “I’m elated. I hope that a victoy here will bring some kind of balance to the city council.” 

9:54pm | With 18 out of 40 precincts reporting, Reyes Uranga is making a run at reelection, gaining 5 points to 46.2 percent to James’ 53.8 percent.

The count elicited jubilation from Uranga. “It’s still too early but anything could happen,” she said. “At this point it’s headed in the right direction.”

“We need another good jump on the next count,” said one campaign volunteer at Reyes Uranga’s packed headquarters.

9:40pm | James Johnson took the early lead with the vote-by-mail ballots at 58.2% of the vote and is now at 53.8% (2,035 votes). Tonia Reyes Uranga now stands at 46.2% (1,749 votes).
 
9:20pm | Reyes Uranga gained a bit of ground with the latest results, but only slightly by a tenth of a percent. She now trails james by 41.8 percent to 58.2 percent.

The upbeat candidate exclaimed “I went up.” 

8:40pm | “Overall it looks good so far,” Reyes Uranga said as she waited for more results to come in. 

She said she thinks the absentee count isn’t a good indicator of how she is doing because “a lot of people still like walking to the polls.” She added that many of her supporters tend to be younger and “newer” voters who may be more comfortable with the polls than having to needle through campaign literature and absentee ballots. 

Uranga also retained some confidence because of the successful write-in campaign that got her into the runoff. “That was the big one,” she said. 
 
8:20pm | With the first count of the night coming in and showing Tonia Reyes Uranga down by nearly 400 votes, the incumbent city councilwoman offered encouraging words to supporters gathered at her campaign headquarters.

“Like my family and my friends, my voters will come in late,” she said of facing an early 58 to 42 percent deficit. “It’s not too bad.”