In West Hollywood, Joe Biden led Bernie Sanders by only 57 votes in the March 3 “Super Tuesday” presidential primary election. With 3,287 votes, Biden received 28.2% of those cast in the Democratic primary. Sanders’ 3,230 votes constituted 27.7% of the total.
Those are results from a breakdown of votes by district that recently was released by the Los Angeles Registrar/Recorder County Clerk.
The third-ranking candidate was Elizabeth Warren, whose 2,827 votes constituted 24.3% of the total. Sanders and Warren, the two progressive candidates in the March 3 primary election. together captured 52% of the votes cast by West Hollywood residents.
Coming in fourth was Pete Buttigieg, with 1,073 votes (9.2% of the total), followed by Mike Bloomberg with 948 votes (8.1% of the total.) Amy Klobuchar got 123 votes (1.1%), and the 14 candidates all together got 161 votes (1.4% of the total).
Buttigieg, the gay former mayor of South Bend, Ind., actually campaigned several times in West Hollywood and won the endorsements of Mayor John D’Amico and City Councilmember Lindsey Horvath. Councilmember John Duran praised Buttigieg on social media. Federal Election Commission records show that Councilmember John Heilman donated to Biden’s campaign and Lauren Meister donated to Warren’s campaign.
With 498 votes, Donald Trump took 85% of the total of 587 votes cast for Republican candidates by West Hollywood voters. The next-highest ranking candidate was Bill Weld, the former governor of Massachusetts and a former member of the Libertarian Party, who took 7% of the votes.
Members of the American Independent, Green, Libertarian and Peace & Freedom parties together cast 149 ballots for their various candidates. Ten percent of the votes cast (1,367) were designated as “crossovers,” which means people voted for candidates outside the parties in which they were registered.
West Hollywood voters chose challenger George Gascon, the former San Francisco District Attorney, over by a small margin over incumbent Jackie Lacey in the vote for Los Angeles County District Attorney. Gascon got 4,294 votes and Lacey got 4,210 votes. Challenger Rachel Rossi, a former public defender, got 2,571 votes. That means Gascon and Lacey will both be in the Nov. 3 runoff election.
West Hollywood residents overwhelmingly supported U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, with 73% of the 11,940 votes cast for eight candidates for the 28th Congressional district. Incumbent Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica) took 79% of the 10,306 votes cast for three candidates in the race for the California State Assembly’s 50th District.
Measure R, a proposal to expand the powers of the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission to more closely supervise controversial actions by Sheriff Alex Villanueva, was supported by 88% of the 11,218 people who cast ballots on that measure. State Measure 13, aimed at borrowing $15 billion to modernize and build public schools, community colleges and universities, got the support of 74% of 11,656 West Hollywood voters, however, if failed in the statewide vote.
Forty-seven percent of the 28,146 registered voters in West Hollywood turned out for the March 3 primary, a major increase over the 22% who voted in the March 5, 2019, City Council election. That turnout illustrates the challenge faced by those running in the Nov. 3 election for two seats on the West Hollywood City Council, currently occupied by John Duran and John Heilman. On the one hand, the city’s low voter turnout has usually resulted in the incumbents winning re-election. But on the other hand, given the COVID-19 pandemic and requirements of social distancing, it will be more difficult than usual for challengers to get in front of voters in person.
