Democratic former Rep. Gil Cisneros leads the field of 10 candidates in the race to succeed retiring Rep. Grace Napolitano in the 31st Congressional District, according to figures released Wednesday by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk.
Cisneros has 21.4% of the vote in the predominately Democratic San Gabriel Valley district. Republican Daniel Jose Bocic Martinez, who lists his occupation as lawyer/entrepreneur/educator, is second with 20.7% of the vote, while Republican Pedro Antonio Casas, a clinical psychologist, is third with 18.9%.
Sen. Susan Rubio, D-Baldwin Park, is fourth with 15.1%, while Sen. Bob Archuleta, D-Pico Rivera, who was endorsed by Napolitano, D-Norwalk, is fifth with 10.5% of the vote.
The top two candidates, regardless of party, will advance to the general election.
Updated vote counts are scheduled daily through the week.
Cisneros, who won $266 million in the Mega Millions lottery in 2010 and has used a portion of his winnings to finance his campaigns, defeated Republican Young Kim, 51.6%-48.4%, to win the then-39th District seat in 2018.
Kim was leading and traveled to Washington, D.C., for orientation for newly elected House members, only to be overtaken by Cisneros in late-arriving ballots in the district that ran from Walnut in the north to Chino Hills in the east, Hacienda Heights in the west and Fullerton in the south.
Kim won the rematch, 50.6%-49.4%, in 2020.
Following his loss, Cisneros was appointed by President Joe Biden as undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness in 2021, serving in the position until resigning Sept. 8, 10 days before declaring his candidacy.