State Board of Equalization Vice Chairwoman Judy Chu jumped to an early lead Tuesday night in her bid for the open 32nd Congressional District seat, running ahead of state Sen. Gil Cedillo as they battled for the top spot among Democrats.
Political newcomer Emanuel Pleitez, who surprised politics watchers with his significant fundraising and campaign of personal contacts and energetic volunteers, was running third among Democrats. Monterey Park Councilwoman Betty Tom Chu was first among the three Republicans on the ballot in the strongly Democratic district.
In the state Senate's 26th District, early returns showed Democratic Assemblyman Curren Price Jr., a former Inglewood councilman, was strongly outdistancing Republican Nachum Shifren and Cindy Varela Henderson of the Peace and Freedom Party.
Voters are saying "they want seasoned, experienced legislators to go to Sacramento and do their job," said Price, who skipped the traditional election night party and instead gave the $5,000 he would have spent to five nonprofit organizations.
He promised to help cut the state budget in light of the failure of the money-raising measures and to follow through on his pledge to create 10,000 jobs in the Senate district.
For seats on the Los Angeles Community College District board, auditor Tina Park was leading incumbent Angela Reddock for Office 2 while another incumbent, Nancy Pearlman, was running ahead of attorney Robert Nakahiro for Office 6.
In Palmdale, voters were authorizing an increase in the city's hotel tax and also narrowly approving a proposal to rescind term limits for City Council members, early returns showed.
Among the few local races on Tuesday's ballot, the congressional district race was widely watched because of its test of ethnic politics.
The hotly contested special election in the San Gabriel Valley-based district featured 12 names on the ballot and at least one write-in candidate.
If no candidate winds up with a majority, there will be a runoff July 14 among the top vote-getters from each of the parties in the race.
Because the district is strongly Democratic, however, it is widely expected that, if there is to be a runoff, the seat ultimately would go to the Democrat who got the most votes Tuesday.
The seat, one of the few area elected offices without term limits, opened unexpectedly with the appointment of Hilda Solis as U.S. labor secretary.
