Mayor John M. Erickson appears poised for re-election to West Hollywood City Council, securing 28.10% of the votes counted as of 5:15 p.m. on Nov. 6, with 7,174 votes.
Trailing in second place is Business License Commissioner Danny Hang, who has received 5,376 votes, or 21.06%. Although vote totals are not final, Erickson and Hang currently maintain a comfortable lead.
In third place is Larry Block, owner of BlockParty WeHo, with 3,542 votes, or 13.87%.
Erickson and Hang were part of a slate supported by UNITE HERE Local 11, a labor union that invested heavily in their campaigns. This apparent success reinforces the union’s significant influence on local West Hollywood politics.
Public Safety Commissioner George Nickel is in fourth place with 3,198 votes, or 12.53%, followed by labor attorney Zekiah “Z” Wright in fifth, who has received 2,428 votes, or 9.51%. Nickel and Wright represent a slate backed by the West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, which advocates for business interests and enhanced law enforcement measures. Wright narrowly missed securing a seat in the 2022 Council race when running as a UNITE HERE candidate.
The remaining candidates received the following votes:
Stefanie Lahart: 1,439 votes (5.64%) Jordan Cockeram: 1,282 votes (5.02%) Rachel Schmeidler: 515 votes (2.02%) Dorian J. Jackson: 359 votes (1.41%) William West Seegmiller: 218 votes (0.85%)
The two newly elected councilmembers will be sworn-in at the regular meeting of City Council on Monday, December 16, 2024 at 6 p.m. City Council annually elects the city’s mayor and vice mayor in a rotation of councilmembers and City Council will elect councilmembers to serve as mayor and vice Mayor at its regular meeting on Monday, December 16, 2024, as well. There will be a City Council Reorganization and Installation meeting on Monday, January 13, 2025.
West Hollywood voters are leaning toward approving Measure WH, with 82.23% voting “Yes” and 17.77% voting “No.” Measure WH aims to secure around $5 million annually in locally controlled revenue by redirecting a quarter-cent sales tax to the city if a future district sales tax in the county is enacted.
Congratulations to Mr Erickson and Mr Hang.
Glad to see the balance of power has not shifted, yet.
When Erickson and Hang are sworn in, a whole bunch of their unite here, streets for all, and developer investors/masters probably will be there to cheer them on.
But I wonder how many weho residents, and small business owners will be there?
Hang and Ericksin are exactly the kind of out of touch far left candidates who gave the election to fascist Donald Trump. People are rightly turned off by defund the police, $50 minimum wage for bed makers, 6’4″ men in a dress wrestling a teenage girl etc. It works in Weho because the people who voted for these two clowns only selfishly vote for rent control. It continues to ruin the city.
Out of curiosity, what is the definition of fascist? The term has been used a lot lately and I’m genuinely curious what it means and its context.
Unite Here is closely aligned with communists at the DSA. Every dollar spent at these hotels help support extreme agendas and truly undermines democracy. If the mayor wanted to make West Hollywood safe, he could start by making the sidewalks are safe and making sure that vegetation doesn’t block the sidewalk and force pedestrians into the roadway. Also, why did they change the setup on the crosswalks where the button has to be pressed now instead of giving everybody the most opportunities to cross safely? This is about getting people out of their cars and into the monopolistic Uber’s of… Read more »
You all are all so negative. Weho is a great city and Erickson and Hang articulated a real plan to make the city more walkable thus safer for everyone on the East side and the West side of town. That is why they won. No fear mongering, just practicable urban planning.
This comment is frightening. How easy people fall for John lies and manipulation. We doomed.
How they beat LARRY speaks to OUTSIDE money. We must put a stop to this or this city is finished.
NO to (progressives)
About a combined total of $250,000.00 of super PAC moneys. Everyone one else ran on local donations and their personal bank accounts.
Progressive is code for inching towards communism. We can be socially Progressive without all this economic stuff but the truth of the matter is, the unions are sitting on billions of dollars in investment money from the workers. This is not about the workers but about their pensions. Very few people realize that Uber’s vice president and chief lawyer is Tony West, and he’s Kamala Harris’s brother-in-law and former campaign manager. Make no mistake, this is about money and not about you and your feelings.
Erickson and Hang didn’t win…Unite Here, Streets for All, Latham and Watkins, (or whatever their name is…the lawyers,) and the big developers are the ones who won.
Now all they have to do is attach the strings that they will pull on their two little puppets who were bought for about $300,000! And all of us will be the worse for it!
It reminds me of a character named Jabez Stone. Look him up and you’ll understand!
Look how they shook down the businesses during their strike and how they blocked traffic and angered all the residents. Unite Here is savage. Unite Here is Nationwide. I refuse to stay in a hotel with their workers. Their workers don’t support me.
What sort of person would vote for Erickson? The guy is super creepy and clown-like.
Creep of the year is Pearl Erickson! He needs to remove his pronouns. Woke is Finished.
People not well versed in the politics of West Hollywood. The union spent a lot of their member’s money on getting Erickson and Hang’s faces and names out there and people vote with what is familiar not always what’s best for them. (interesting fact: in total, more votes were actually cast for candidates OTHER THAN Erickson and Hang)
If this is the final outcome – and it seems likely – here’s what it will mean for West Hollywood: A continuation of identity-focused politics Completion of bike lanes on Fountain Avenue More scooters More robo-delivery vehicles No increase of funding of the local Sheriff’s station despite crime numbers Increased funding for the Block by Block program Higher spending on fancy consultants to address the homelessness crisis Potential efforts from Unite 11 to raise minimum wages, which will impact local businesses More empty storefronts More spending on fancy woke initiatives More poop and urine smells in our neighborhoods What am… Read more »
You nailed it. So sad.
A moving van out of town?
The plan is to make business so expensive that you have to automate and you have to give patronage to the monopolies. That’s the agenda. Unite Here is code for Global government and domination. These folks don’t share the values of the United States of America and I believe they will gladly sell this country out when the dictators start knocking. I’m obviously a liberal person if I live here but I’m not a fool and I’m not naive. There is nothing liberal about this agenda. These guys will turn hard right before they will go left. Trust me.
$CaChing$ these two bought and sold out in a two-for-one sale.
Unreal. You would’ve thought the whole fountain Avenue bike thing would’ve sunk Erickson. I don’t get people in this city. Well, at least the rest of the country saw that Harris was an empty pants suit.
The bottom line is there were too many candidates running and it diluted the vote. Between Larry & George they received more than 5100 votes. That total combined would have beaten Danny Hang. It’s just plain stupid to have that many candidates on the ballot. This is how organizations like Unite succeed. They want all these candidates in the race so it dilutes the numbers and their candidates can win. Let’s just say it was a total disaster last night given that Donald Trump will be back in power without any guardrails this time.
I’ve been saying for years that there needs to be a Primary Election to narrow the field for the General Election. Alas, I know it’s difficult to get Wehoan’s to even vote in one election let alone two but a guy can dream can’t he?
Ah, you are seeing the assault on democracy. The manipulation. The whole time they’re blaming the other people for it. It’s not just disingenuous, these people are dishonest.