Incumbent Councilwoman Mary Zendejas gained ground in her bid to avoid a runoff election by eclipsing the 50% mark again Friday, according to updated count totals released by Los Angeles County election officials.
Zendejas, who has represented the Downtown area since winning a special election in 2019, is vying for her first full term as a member of the City Council. On Friday, those chances increased slightly as new vote totals showed her at nearly 51%. Candidates need just to finish over 50% to avoid a runoff vote on Nov. 8.
Zendejas is currently above that threshold by about 50 votes.
The closest challenger, city commissioner and community advocate Mariela Salgado, is behind Zendejas by about 700 votes. County election workers had about 400,000 ballots to sort through heading into Friday and the county has yet to announce how many estimated ballots are left to count.
Four other races that appeared headed to a runoff after Tuesday’s primary, including the mayoral race, did not show significant movement.
Councilmember Rex Richardson (43%) continues to lead Councilmember Suzie Price (39%) and still appears headed for a runoff election to decide the city’s next mayor.
The city’s 3rd District race for the southeast Long Beach council seat continues to show Kristina Duggan (23%) leading Nima Novin (20%). The 5th District race is also holding steady with a former school board member, Megan Kerr (48%) leading Ian Patton (32%).
Joni Ricks-Oddie (46%) is leading Ginny Gonzales (26%) in the city’s 9th District race, which will determine the next representative for North Long Beach. The Area 1 LBUSD School Board race that also represents North Long Beach also looks to be headed toward a runoff with Maria Isabel Lopez (43%) still leading Nubia Flores (30%) after Friday’s update.
Candidates in the 7th District council race and the three citywide races for city auditor, city attorney and city prosecutor all maintained their large leads from Tuesday night and appear headed for primary victories.
City Prosecutor Doug Haubert and 7th District Councilman Roberto Uranga would both win a third term while City Auditor Laura Doud is headed toward a fifth term in office.
The only non-incumbent with a large lead after Friday’s update is Dawn McIntosh, who still has 56% of the vote will likely become Long Beach’s next city attorney after recently serving as the assistant city attorney before the campaign.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify the difference in the current vote tally between Zendejas and Salgado.
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