June 7 Primary Election Results

California’s June 7 Primary is officially behind us. The people have spoken. Sadly, what they’ve told us is that they don’t really care. Turnout was a dismal 16%.

Below is a summary of unofficial results.  

All information is based on returns provided by the county registrars as of 5:00 PM Tuesday, June 21.

Los Angeles

Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva will face a runoff for his seat in November after garnering just 30.66% of the vote in Tuesday’s election. His top challenger was retired Long Beach Police Chief Robert Luna (25.86%).

In District 3, State Senator Robert Herzberg (D-Van Nuys) and West Hollywood Councilmember Lindsey Horvath appear to be headed for a November runoff to replace Supervisor Sheila Kuehl.

As expected, Karen Bass and Rick Caruso will duke it out for LA Mayor five months from now. Bass is at 43.14% and Caruso is at 35.98%.

Euinsses Hernandez has beaten Gil Cedillo in the race for District 1. She now commands more than 50% of the vote and has declared victory in the race. 

Katy Young Yaroslavsky is in the lead for District 5 with 48.99%. Unless she makes it over the 50% mark, she’ll compete with Sam Yebri to replace Paul Koretz in November.

In District 11, civil rights attorney Erin Darling and municipal law attorney Traci Park are the top two with 34.64% and 28.98% respectively, setting them up for a fall showdown. These candidates are polar opposites and their November rematch will be a race for the ages.

In District 13, incumbent Mitch O’Farrell is headed for a runoff. He’ll face Hugo Soto-Martinez, a labor and community organizer who wants to end sweeps of homeless encampments. 

In District 15, currently held by termed-out Councilman Joe Buscaino, the top two vote-getters are Tim McOsker, CEO of non-profit AltaSea and Harbor City Neighborhood Council Member Danielle Sandoval.

Despite some last-minute controversies, Kenneth Mejia was the top vote-getter for City Controller with 43.11% of the vote. He’ll face off against City Councilman Paul Koretz who has 23.67%.

In the City Attorney's race, Faisal Gil and Hydee Feldstein Soto are now in the top two. Feldstein Soto moved into second place Tuesday, June 21 as more ballots were counted. 

Beverly Hills and Lynwood voters have approved term limits via measures TL and R. In Monrovia, voters defeated measure RM, which would have eliminated elections for the mayor.

Two city council members will compete for Long Beach Mayor in November. Rex Richardson leads with 44.12% ahead of Suzie Price’s 37.01%. Richardson was backed by Democrats. Price had the support of the local Chamber of Commerce, the Police Officers Association, and BizFed PAC.

Long Beach Councilwoman Mary Zendejas has pulled ahead in her effort to remain the District 1 representative, but it's close. She currently has 50.26%. In second place is Mariela Salgado with 28.61%. District 3 is headed for a runoff. Right now, the likely challengers in November appear to be Kristina Duggan and Kailee Caruso. Megan Kerr and Ian Patton are headed for a runoff in District 5. Roberto Uranga has won re-election in District 7. In District 9, Joni Ricks-Oddie is at 49.30%. Ginny Gonzales is in second place with 23.47%.

Torrance District 2 Councilmember George Chen appears to have been elected mayor with over 50% of the vote. 

See all LA County election results here.

Inland Empire

San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus was handily elected sheriff. He has held the position since July 14, 2021 when he was appointed to replace John McMahon.

There will be a runoff for San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors District 2. Luis Cetina leads with 33.01%. Jesse Armendarez has 30.50%. In District 4, Supervisor Curt Hagman appears to have won re-election. He has 55.85% of the vote despite a high-profile challenge from Senator Connie Leyva. 

Embattled San Bernardino Mayor John Valdivia appears to have lost re-election. There will be a runoff to replace him this fall, featuring Businesswoman Helen Tran and former City Attorney James F. Penman.

Riverside County Board of Supervisors District 5 is most certainly headed for a runoff. The results show Moreno Valley Mayor Yxstian Gutierrez and incumbent Jeff Hewitt finishing in the top two. If Gutierrez wins in November, it would flip the balance of power on the board. However, Hewitt was hurt in the primary by the candidacy of Beaumont Mayor Lloyd White. He’ll be a non-factor in the fall.

Riverside District Attorney Mike Hestrin and controversial Sheriff Chad Bianco both appear to have won re-election.  

See more election results for San Bernardino and Riverside.

Orange County

Orange County Superintendent Al Mijares is on track to defeat a re-election challenge from charter school executive Stefan Bean. He'll continue to battle the board's ultra-conservative majority, as trustees Tim Shaw, Mari Barke, and Lisa Sparks all appear to have won re-election.

Despite a number of controversies, voters have re-elected Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer.

Orange County Board of Supervisors Districts 2, 4 and 5 will all go to runoffs in November. In District 2, the top two candidates are Santa Ana Mayor Vicente Sarmiento and Garden Grove Councilwoman Bernice Nguyen, both Democrats. In District 4, Buena Park Mayor Sunny Park will face off against Supervisor Doug Chaffee. They are also two Democrats. The party threw its support behind Park this time. In District 5, it's Katrina Foley vs. Pat Bates thanks to a split in the right-leaning vote.

See all Orange County election results here.

San Diego County

Undersheriff Kelly Martinez was the top choice to succeed retired San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore. Prosecutor John Hemmerling appears to be finishing second, followed by retired sheriff's commander Dave Myers.

Board of Supervisors Chair Nathan Fletcher has handily won re-election.  

District 2 San Diego Councilwoman Jennifer Campbell will fight for re-election in November. Linda Lukacs is in second place.

Chula Vista City Council Member John McCann will be running for mayor in November. It appears his challenger will be former US Dept. Of Labor official Ammar Campa-Najjar.

See all San Diego County election results here.

San Francisco Bay

The biggest race in the San Francisco Bay Area wasn’t actually a race, but a ballot measure. Voters have overwhelmingly recalled progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin via Measure H in a vote that was being watched nationwide. This is a massive blow for the criminal justice reform movement and could have implications for LA County where another progressive district attorney is facing a possible recall for similar reasons. Mayor London Breed will pick Boudin's replacement and then there will be an election for the next DA in November.

Voters don’t want to make it harder to recall the next controversial official either. They have defeated Measure C, which would have extended the length of time an official must serve before they can be recalled. The anti-corruption measure, Proposition E, has passed.

In Alameda County, progressive Pamela Price was the top vote-getter with 43.20%. It appears she'll face Terry Wiley, the chief deputy district attorney for the Alameda DA, in November. 

Both Alameda County and San Mateo County have elected Latinas to lead their sheriff's departments. These are the first Latina sheriffs in California history. Read more here.  

Sylvia Arena leads in the race for Santa Clara Board of Supervisors District 1. Johnny Khamis is a close second. No one will garner above 50%. This is an open race to replace Mike Wasserman. In the sheriff’s race, which is also wide-open, the top two vote-getters are:

• Robert Jonsen – 31.98%
• Kevin Jensen – 30.48%

In the race for San Jose Mayor, Supervisor Cindy Chavez and Councilman Matt Mahan are headed for a runoff.

Santa Clara County Office of Education Trustee Rosemary Kamei appears to have won the District 1 council seat outright with 65.72%. In District 3, San Jose-Evergreen Community College District Board of Education Trustee Omar Torres is in the lead with 44.16%. In second place is educator Irene Smith at 19.97%. In District 5, former assemblywoman Nora Campos leads with 30.94%. Peter Ortiz appears to be runner-up for the runoff. In District 7, incumbent Maya Esparza leads with 47.50%, but it's not enough to avoid a runoff. Fire Captain Bien Doan appears to be in the lead for the no. 2 spot. 

Santa Clara and Santa Cruz voters have dropped their at-large voting systems in favor of district-based elections via Measures D and E. In St. Helena, voters approved Measure R which will make the mayor an appointed rather than elected position.

See all results from Santa Clara here.

Sacramento and Placer Counties

Democratic Assemblymember Jim Cooper appears headed for victory in the Sacramento County Sheriff's race with 54.83%. Undersheriff Jim Barnes is at 45.17%. 

In City Council District 1 – currently held by Angelique Ashby – Natomas Unified School District Trustee Lisa Kaplan leads with 49.72%. If this heads to a runoff, it will be with Natomas Chamber of Commerce President Alyssa Lozano.

Wayne Woo has won the sheriff’s race in Placer County with well over 50%. He was endorsed by Placer County Sheriff Devon Bell, who is retiring for health reasons. 

See more election results from Sacramento and Placer County.

Far-Right Shellacking in Shasta and Nevada

Far-right candidates backed by the Liberty Committee have suffered major losses in Shasta County. Shasta County District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett, Sheriff Michael Johnson, County Clerk Cathy Darling Allen, and County Superintendent Judy Flores have all won re-election, defeating Liberty-backed candidates Erik Jensen, John Greene, Bob Holsinger, and Bryan Caples. The Liberty-back candidates for Supervisor Districts 1 and 5 appear headed for runoffs in November. Anti-establishment “election observers” who showed up to watch the vote-counting last night were accused of “intimidating” election officials.

See more results out of Shasta County here.  

In Nevada County, there was a similar attempt to unseat County Registrar of Voters Natlie Adona for acknowledging the legitimacy of the 2020 election. That attempt has also failed.

For more context, see our previous election guide here. 

This article has been updated.