The 2022 election will deliver considerable political change to Long Beach and could reset the balance of power on the City Council and other citywide offices for years to come.
In order to help residents decide their votes before the June 7 primary and Nov. 8 general election, the Long Beach Post today is bringing back our Compare Your Candidates tool, which allows users to compare candidate answers to a number of pressing questions side-by-side.
The Post is also this week releasing three recorded debates with candidates for the offices of city attorney, city prosecutor and city auditor. The roughly hour-long debates, moderated by Post reporters, will be posted in coming days to our Facebook page and YouTube channel.
For both the debates and the Compare Your Candidate tool, the questions came in part from reader surveys the Post conducted earlier this year.
For the tool, candidates were not given a word-limit on their answers, they were encouraged to keep their responses as brief as possible. The answers from candidates are in their own words, changed only for style or formatting.
A total of 11 city offices will be up for a vote during the June 7 primary, including five City Council positions and three citywide offices. And for the first time since 2014, the city will have a new mayor due to Mayor Robert Garcia’s decision to run for a newly created congressional seat.
June’s primary vote will also include three positions on the LBUSD Board of Education.
It will also be the first election held with the city’s recently redrawn political boundaries in effect, meaning residents of the Bixby Knolls and Los Cerritos neighborhoods will now vote in a district connected to East Long Beach due to reconfigured district lines.
Some residents of Downtown and near the Traffic Circle will find themselves eligible to vote for a council member in their second consecutive election as they were moved into an area that is on the ballot in 2022.
All of these officials are charged with spending tax money, safeguarding the public during the pandemic, ensuring government services are equitable and representing our city to the rest of the world.
In total, more than 40 candidates for local offices will be on the June 7 primary election ballot.
For more election coverage, including investigative stories, analysis and debates, keep an eye on our elections hub: lbpost.com/elections.