Incumbent Sharon Kalani seems likely to retain her Torrance City Council seat in District 4, according to the first post-election day update from the Los Angeles County registrar’s office on Wednesday afternoon, March. 6.
But the races in Districts 2 and 6 remain close, with the latter particularly tight between the leading contenders.
Unlike other municipal races around Los Angeles County, Torrance does not have a runoff. Instead, candidates in Districts 2, 4 and 6 who secured the most votes during the Tuesday, March 5, election, will serve on the City Council.
See the latest election results.
Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan announced the semi-official results for Tuesday’s primary election around 2 a.m. Wednesday, March 6. The registrar’s office then released its first post-election night results around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.The next update for ballot count will take place on Thursday, March 7, the registrar’s office said.
Kalani had captured around 84% of the vote, according to that latest update. Her challenger, Kousha Modanlou, a certified public accountant and educator, had nearly 16%.
Kalani said Wednesday afternoon that she looks forward to the next four years.
“It’s been my honor to serve for the last four years,” she said. “So it’s just my pleasure to continue to serve at the pleasure of the people of Torrance and to continue the work that was started four years ago.”
Modanlou, on the other hand, said he is grateful for the opportunity to shed light on the issues he cares about, regardless of the election’s outcome.
“For me, it was very important to raise a number of issues that I feel are not being addressed,” he said, “when it comes to the safety of the community from the refinery and our energy system, and in terms of our students’ experience and the airport and so on.”
In District 2, incumbent Bridgett Lewis maintained a narrow lead over Andrew Lee, an educator and health care director, the latest results show.
Lewis had secured approximately 53%, or 2,256 of the votes, while Lee had garnered nearly 47%, or 1,964 votes, so far. The gap between the two candidates was at 292 votes.
Lewis thanked her supporters for contributing to the success of her campaign. But she also said she remained “cautiously optimistic” while awaiting further developments.
“I nervously anticipated the first report and was excited to see that I had captured 53.83% of the vote and was in the lead,” she said Wednesday morning, prior to the arrival of further updates. “The reporting has held thus far, but I am cautiously optimistic as the results continue to be counted.”
Lee did not return requests for comment.
In District 6, the contest to succeed termed-out Councilmember Mike Griffiths was neck-and-neck between Torrance Planning Commissioner Tony Yeh and Jeremy Gerson, a member of the Torrance Unified School District Board of Education.
Gerson captured 37.58%, or 1,375 votes, while Yeh had obtained 36.65% of the votes, or 1,341 votes, resulting in a near tie — with only 34 votes separating them.
A third candidate, John “Jack” Walser, who’s a longtime business owner in Torrance, trailed behind the leading contenders with 25.77%, or 943 votes.
Gerson said Wednesday that he and his supporters knew from the start that the race would be a tight one.
“The mayor and two city councilmen,” he said, “were actively trying to defeat me with the help of real estate developer money.
“Even pilots put in $100,000 in part to keep me off the City Council.” Gerson added. “I feel really good that my campaign has been so resilient. As more information comes to light, I think even more Torrance residents will rally to our cause to protect the character of Torrance.”
Yeh, for his part, dismissed Gerson’s comments as “false accusations.”
“Yes, I (got an) endorsement from the police,” he said Wednesday. “I (got an) endorsement from the mayor and two councilmembers. I don’t know the rest (of what) he’s talking about.”
He ran “a very clean campaign,” Yeh said, and all the financial information about his campaign is available to the public, Yeh added. He declined to comment further on the elections, noting that the final results have yet to be revealed.
Walser did not return requests for comments.