The 2018 Long Beach municipal primary election results were certified Wednesday by the city council confirming victories for some candidates, and that more work remains for three seats in city government.
The final vote tallies changed little from last Tuesday night. Mayor Robert Garcia, Vice Mayor Rex Richardson and Third District Councilwoman Suzie Price all maintained their roughly 80-point victories with Richardson maintaining the largest margin of victory by securing 79.82 percent of votes tallied in the Ninth District.
Newly elected Long Beach Community College District Board of Trustee Uduak-Joe Ntuk widened his margin of victory over incumbent Jeff Kellogg, finishing with just over 58 percent of the vote in the race for the Area 1 position on the LBCC board. Ntuk increased his April 10 victory margin by about two percentage points.
Tuesday Night’s Election Brought Victory For Some While Others Head Back to the Campaign Trail
Richardson congratulated those who won reelection bids last week noting that to have so many re-elected, or unchallenged as was the case with a number of races, that it said something about the city’s leaders and how the community feels about them.
“It says a lot about the direction we’re heading and I really look forward to working with all of you and best of luck to all the candidates in the next round,” Richardson said.
Three races remain undecided though, with Council Districts Five and Seven facing runoffs and the only contested seat on the Long Beach Unified School District Board of Education also hosting a runoff on the June 5 ballot.
Incumbent Fifth District Councilwoman Stacy Mungo will face off with former Long Beach harbor commissioner Rich Dines who garnered the second amount of votes last Tuesday night. Mungo narrowly missed reelection, which required 50 percent plus one of the vote total, by taking in 47.92 percent of the vote. Dines finished with just over 29 percent.
Mungo could be working her way toward a victory if she’s able to consolidate votes by way of endorsement from former opponents. John Osborn II, who placed fourth with about four percent of the vote, was at her election night party and has pledged his support going forward. Corliss Lee and her 18 percent of the vote could play a role in the race in which Mungo won 26 out of the 28 precincts with Dines winning one and tying in another.
Seventh District incumbent Roberto Uranga also narrowly missed victory with 47 percent of the vote last Tuesday night and will face newcomer Jared Milrad, who earned 32 percent support. Milrad won just six precincts, most of which were in the Cal Heights area of the Seventh District and all of which had higher voter turnout percentages than the remaining 24 precincts.
Garcia Cruises to Victory Over Conn For Second Term As Mayor of Long Beach
LBUSD board candidate Cesar Armendariz took just 7 of 41 precincts last Tuesday night but his 33.46 percent of the vote qualified him for the June runoff along with Juan Benitez (46.46 percent) who led the field of three men seeking to replace board member John McGinnis.
The June 5 statewide primary is likely to result in higher voter turnout for the entire city as voters head to the polls to vote on races to decide the next governor, United States senator and charter reform.
The total number of voters that participated in this year’s municipal primary ticked up a few points with the final count sitting at 15.83 percent of registered voters casting votes this year, up from about 13.4 percent that had been counted as of last week. This primary will be the last to be held in April as state laws forced cities like Long Beach with historically low voter turnout and non-concurrent election cycles to align themselves with the state’s primaries and runoff schedule.
The next stable of prospective council members, which will include the even numbered districts, will campaign toward a March primary and would head to a November runoff if no candidate receives over 50 percent of the vote.