Democrat Lena Gonzalez, a Long Beach councilwoman, and Cudahy Councilman Jack Guerrero, a Republican, will meet in runoff June 4 to decide the special election to fill the vacant 33rd Senate District seat.
Gonzalez led the field of 12 candidates with 30.6 percent of the vote, according to semi-official results released Tuesday evening by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk. Guerrero was second at 14.86 percent.
Bell City Councilman Ali Saleh, a Democrat, was third at 9.06 percent, followed by Bell City Councilwoman Ana Maria Quintana with 8.66 percent, the only other candidate to top 8 percent.
The special election was prompted by Ricardo Lara’s election as state insurance commissioner.
Because no candidate received a majority, the top two finishers will meet in a runoff.
The 33rd Senate District includes Bell Gardens, Bell, Signal Hills, South Gate, Paramount, Vernon, Lynwood, Maywood, Huntington Park and Cudahy, along with a large portion of Long Beach.
The other candidates were:
— businessman Tom Cares;
— South Gate Councilwoman Denise Diaz;
— teacher/administrator Cesar Flores;
— Cudahy Councilman Chris Garcia;
— businesswoman/teacher Martha Flores Gibson;
— Lynwood Mayor Jose Luis Solache; and
— former Lynwood Mayor Leticia Vasquez Wilson.
All of the candidates are Democrats except Gibson and Guerrero, who are Republicans, and Flores, a member of the Green Party.