In her bid for a second term, Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman pulled above 50% for the first time since vote counting began in last week’s primary election, increasing her prospects of avoiding a Nov. 5 runoff.
The latest batch of returns, released Tuesday, showed Raman with 50.2% of the vote, compared with 39% for her nearest opponent, Deputy City Atty. Ethan Weaver. In third place was software engineer Levon “Lev” Baronian, who had about 11%.
Vote counting is expected to resume Wednesday. Raman and her two challengers were competing to represent a district that straddles the Hollywood Hills, stretching from Silver Lake in the east to the San Fernando Valley neighborhood of Reseda in the west.
Raman was running for a second four-year term in a district that is significantly different from the one that elected her in 2020. A year after she took office, the City Council redrew about 40% of the district, taking out such areas as Hancock Park and Park La Brea and adding all or part of Encino, Studio City and other neighborhoods.
A representative of the Raman campaign did not immediately have comment, and a consultant for Weaver did not immediately respond. Under the city’s election rules, any council candidate who receives more than 50% in the primary election wins outright.
Weaver, who spent several years as a neighborhood prosecutor, had sought to make major issues of public safety and homelessness. He received huge financial support from unions that represent police officers and firefighters, as well as landlords and other businesses.
Raman worked to turn that financial help into a negative for Weaver, saying it showed that special interests were unhappy with her votes in support of new tenant protections and against police raises and digital billboards. Her supporters portrayed the race as one that would determine the future of progressive politics at City Hall.
This story originally appeared on LA Times
