Councilwoman Nithya Raman Tuesday moved over the majority needed to avoid a runoff in the race for the Fourth District City Council seat for the first time.
Raman entered Tuesday’s resumption of the ballot count with 48.65% of the vote, which grew to 50.19%, according to figures released by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk.
Deputy City Attorney Ethan Weaver is second with 39%, while neighborhood council member Levon “Lev” Baronian is last in the field of three with 10.81%.
It was unclear how many ballots remain to be counted. If no candidate receives a 50% of the vote, the top two candidates will meet in a runoff in November.
“I’m waiting for every vote to be counted, but the clearer picture of the results we’re seeing is very exciting,” Raman said in a statement. “It’s been the honor of my life to serve this incredible city as a member of its council, and I very much hope to see what more we can accomplish with four more years of work.”
Both challengers took positions to the right of Raman, who is one of the more progressive members of the council.
Raman raised more than $438,000 in campaign contributions and benefited from more than $400,000 in independent expenditures.
Other groups — including the union representing the rank-and-file of Los Angeles Police Department officers, the real estate company Douglas Emmett Management and the United Firefighters of LA City Local 112 — poured independent-expenditure money into Weaver’s campaign.
Weaver raised some $345,000 in contributions and benefited from more than $700,000 in independent expenditures. Baronian raised about $39,000 in campaign contributions.
The Fourth District covers parts of Studio City, Sherman Oaks, Van Nuys, Reseda, Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Hollywood and Encino.