Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey is headed for a November runoff against former San Francisco D.A. George Gascon, according to the latest update from the March 3 primary election released Friday.
Lacey has 48.71% of the vote, to 28.20% for Gascon. Former public defender Rachel Rossi was third with 23.09%.
The incumbent needed to finish with more than 50% of the vote to avoid a runoff. She was above that level when unofficial results were announced after the election, but her margin has been steadily decreasing as the county tallies vote-by-mail, provisional and same-day-registration ballots.
Friday’s update, released by the county Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s Office, shows that 2,101,601 votes have been counted, which is 38.128% of eligible Los Angeles County voters.
Lacey now has 862,303 votes to Gascon’s 499,182. An estimated number of outstanding ballots left to be counted is 20,100.
“Thank you, LA. I hope to earn your vote this November,” Gascon tweeted Friday.
The next vote-counting update is scheduled to be released Tuesday.