Community relations manager Imelda Padilla will likely join the Los Angeles City Council later this summer after winning the special election to fill the Sixth District seat vacated by Nury Martinez’s resignation.
Padilla appears to have defeated City Council aide Marisa Alcaraz, 56.74%-43.26%, with 6,684 votes to 5,096 for Alcaraz, according to semifinal official returns released Tuesday night by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk.
Turnout was 10.04%.
The next update of voting results is scheduled for Friday, though officials were expected to release an estimate of the remaining uncounted ballots later Wednesday.
The county clerk will certify the results on July 7, and the winner will take her seat sometime after the council returns from its three-week summer recess July 7-28.
“As someone who has been a community organizer and coalition builder in the Valley for 20 years, I am ready to be the community’s champion in L.A. City Council to ensure that we get our fair share of resources to thrive,” Padilla told City News Service in an email.
In response to the early results on Tuesday night, a spokesperson from Alcaraz’s campaign said in a statement that “these are the first results.”
“The night is young and counts are continuing. More people voted in person tonight than they did in the primary,” the statement said. “Marisa is on the right side of history and will continue to work for working families in any capacity.”
Padilla finished first in the April 4 primary with 25.65% of the vote but fell short of a majority, necessitating the runoff against Alcaraz, who was second in the seven-candidate field with 21.13%.
District 6 consists of Van Nuys, Arleta, Lake Balboa, Panorama City, Sun Valley and the eastern portions of North Hills and North Hollywood.
During the campaign, Padilla pledged to prioritize “an immediate solution to the unhoused crisis because what is currently occurring is not working.”
“I will propose an emergency remediation of encampments, connecting the unhoused population to essential services that will support them in finding housing, employment, and health services,” Padilla said on her campaign’s website.
“I will work cohesively with all stakeholders, residents, non-profits organizations, religious leaders, business owners and health organizations to develop and implement sensible hyper-local solutions that make our communities safer, sanitary, and sustainable.”
Padilla was born in Van Nuys and raised in Sun Valley, graduating from Roscoe Elementary School, Byrd Middle School and Polytechnic High School. She received a bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley and a master’s degree from Cal State Northridge.
Alcaraz told CNS late Tuesday morning she was “proud of the campaign we’ve run, the endorsements that we have, and the team that we’ve built.”
The 38-year-old Alcaraz is deputy chief of staff and environmental policy director to Ninth District Councilman Curren Price. She was raised in Lake Balboa and graduated from Birmingham High School. She received a bachelor’s degree from UC Irvine and a master’s degree from USC.
Martinez represented the district until October, when she resigned first her Council presidency and then, two days later, her seat altogether after she was caught making racist comments in a meeting that was secretly taped and leaked to the news media.
The winner will finish Martinez’s term, which ends in December 2024.