With early vote returns counted, some of the Long Beach races have solidified, while others remain unclear.

Many are inevitably headed to runoffs in November, but some candidates are near the 50%+1 mark, which would mean they win outright, without having to run again in the general election.

Early results are preliminary and represent mostly mail-in ballots and votes cast before Election Day. County election officials will continue to tabulate votes postmarked before Tuesday night and will update results on a rolling basis.

The county is projecting a July 7 certification date of the primary results.

With many mail-in, early-vote ballots and in-person votes counted as of 7 a.m. Wednesday, here’s what we know so far about the Long Beach races:

Mayor 

Councilmembers Rex Richardson and Suzie Price appear headed for a runoff in November, with Richardson leading Tuesday’s vote but not getting the 50% needed to win outright. Richardson received 42% and Price so far received 39%.

There were a total of seven candidates seeking the seat, but none other than the council members had a significant showing.

City Council 
  • District 3: The two candidates who emerged with the most votes so far were Kristina Duggan (23%), Greg Magnuson and Nima Novin, who both had approximately 19% of the early vote. This means the race is most likely headed to a runoff with the race now being who can finish in second. The incumbent, Suzie Price, is running for mayor.
  • District 5: This race saw significant movement overnight, with LBUSD Board Member Megan Kerr down to about 48% of the vote, while Ian Patton, a political consultant and frequent critic of City Hall, was up to about 33%. Patton is fighting to send the race to a runoff where it would be a heads-up match between him and Kerr. Two other candidates ran in the primary and were eating up about 20% of the vote. The incumbent in that district, Stacy Mungo, was drawn out of the new district boundaries and was ineligible to run.
  • District 7: Incumbent Councilman Roberto Uranga appears to have fended off a field of three challengers to win a third term on the City Council with over 60% of the vote.
  • District 9: North Long Beach’s 9th District is currently a two-person race that appears to be headed to November with Jonie Ricks-Oddie (44%) and Ginny Gonzales (27%) leading the field of three active candidates.
City Prosecutor

Prosecutor Doug Haubert claimed 59% of the vote, or 20,346 ballots, in early returns, making it likely he’ll avoid a runoff. Challenger Nicholas Liddi had 22% and George Moyer had about 19%.

City Auditor 

Longtime City Auditor Laura Doud appeared to be heading to victory over challenger Dan Miles, with roughly 62% of the vote compared to Miles with 38%.

City Attorney

Early voting results showed Assistant City Attorney Dawn McIntosh, who won institutional backing, leading former Councilmember Gerrie Schipske, a frequent critic of City Hall. As of Wednesday morning, McIntosh had 56.5%.

School Board 
  • In the race for Long Beach Unified School Board District Area 5, longtime incumbent Diana Craighead was leading challenger Melissa Pittscutler with 60% of the vote.
  • Three new candidates are vying for the Area 1 seat, which was vacated by Megan Kerr, who is running for City Council. Educator Maria Isabel López is leading with 44% of the vote, followed by Nubia Flores, a parent organizer for Long Beach Forward, with 29%, followed by business executive Sharifa Batts at 27%.
42nd Congress 

Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia and businessman John Briscoe are leading the race for the 42nd Congressional District, according to early returns.

Garcia has claimed 44.6% of the vote, or 20,776 votes, while Briscoe has 28.6% (13,328 votes). Cristina Garcia, the other big-name Democrat in the race, was only at 12.6% with 5,885 votes.

If Robert Garcia and Briscoe end up in the runoff, it almost guarantees a win for the Long Beach Mayor in the heavily Democratic district.

44th Congress 

Incumbent Democrat Nanette Diaz Barragán captured 65% of the early returns over her challengers Morris Falls Griffin, a Democrat and maintenance technician, and Paul Jones, a Republican minister.

69th Assembly

Small business owner Josh Lowenthal, who is the son of U.S. Rep Alan Lowenthal, has taken the lead over challengers Al Austin, a Long Beach city council member, Merry Taheri, a nurse practitioner and Long Beach citizen police commissioner, and Janet Denise Foster, a health care administrator.

Lowenthal had 44.5% in early returns, meaning he’s likely headed to a runoff with Austin (26.3%) in November.

LA County Sheriff 

Sheriff Alex Villanueva led in early returns Tuesday with 34% of the vote, but he will likely face a November runoff against former Long Beach Police Chief Robert Luna, who has 24.5% of the vote.

Editor’s note: Voting totals in the story were updated at 7:20 a.m. Wednesday, June 8.