The final votes were tallied Monday in the West Hollywood City Council races, and the top three of 12 candidates on the ballot were Mayor Lauren Meister, Chelsea Byers and John Heilman.
They will join Mayor Pro Tem Sepi Shyne and John Erickson on the dais.
Meister came in first place by leaps and bounds, more than 2,000 votes ahead of Byers.
Byers was 43 votes ahead of John Heilman, who bested Zekiah Wright by a mere 13 votes.
WEHOville has reached out to the candidates for comment.
A clear victory came early on Election night for Meister after a long campaign season where she found herself the target of the UNITE HERE Local 11 labor union, which sought her ouster for not supporting the defunding of the sheriff’s budget.
“Happy the count is done and we can move forward,” Meister wrote to WEHOville. “Congrats to Chelsea and John. Hoping we can all work together for the sake of our residents and small business community.”
For the other candidates, the nail-biting continued for another month, as the vote tally changed wildly from day to day. John Duran and Robert Oliver looked likely to win seats on the council shortly after Election Day, but thousands of mail-in ballots continued to arrive, eventually pushing Byers and Heilman over the finish line.
A newcomer to West Hollywood and local politics, Byers is young, brainy and proudly progressive, a protege of Lindsey Horvath and an ally of Shyne and Erickson. Heilman will pick up where his decades-long tenure on City Council left off in 2020, when voters picked new faces Shyne and Erickson over him and Duran.
Despite such a narrow loss, Wright was energized and optimistic about the future.
“I’m super proud of what we accomplished this year,” they said. “I don’t know what’s next but I’m looking forward to continuing this momentum and continuing to engage with everyone I’ve met along the way. The results reveal an era coming to an end and the desire for people-centered politics where everyone feels heard and included.”
Chelsea became the only newcomer to win a seat on the council because she’s bright and smart. She won due to the voters knowing her, and liking her. Weho’s citizens obviously wanted a Lindsey Horvath protege, and they got a good one in Chelsea! I have no doubt she will do well and make the city proud of her leadership.
Bizarre comment. I think most people would disagree.
Most people in these comments sections would disagree, probably. Tribalism. Does that represent the real world?
Come at her with pitchforks, even before she’s had an opportunity to prove herself. It’s very productive.
She came in second place. She won a seat. So, she has support. In the real world. Proof is in the vote totals.
But don’t forget that no one wins with even a close majority, so a mere 10% doesn’t exactly mean she has overwhelming support.
I didn’t vote for her and I’ll tell you why. She isn’t a long term resident. She campaigns on issues that aren’t relevant to the city, meaning, like Horvath she’s using the gay community to launch her political career. So yes, I’d like to pitchfork her right off the council.
So how did she get thousands of people to vote for her!? Even more votes than Heilman….who was first elected 38 years ago !
Exactly.
Kanye supported her
Another friendly face without and significant credentials and or substance. Unfortunately this says a lot about local veneer voters who are interested in pleasantly veneered candidates
Couldn’t have been all those PACs from unions, developers, and non-profiteers
Only 13 votes between third place and fourth place. Every vote counts!
I’m going to predict Chelsea Byers will do more damage to the City than Lindsey Horvath did. And also, that we will be rid of accused anti-Semite/Palestinian-loving Byers after one pathetic term. Congratulations Freeloaders, you won again.
Sepi comes out a winner having Chelsea on council, she will no longer be the most disliked council member.
Despite Sepi’s forced modulated speech patterns & affects, she comes across as a very angry person. 😡