L.A. County Supervisors Janice Hahn, Kathryn Barger and Holly J. Mitchell were ahead Tuesday night in early returns, indicating that the reign of the so-called “five little queens” may continue.
The incumbents were among the 12 candidates competing in three races that could reshape the board, which has been all-female since 2020, fundamentally altering its approach to public safety and homelessness, among other issues.
Election results started rolling in Tuesday night after the polls closed at 8 p.m. and will be updated until March 26. It can take days, if not weeks, for the winner of a race to be determined.
Hahn faced down two male challengers as she vied for a third and final term: former L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who wants the seat after losing his bid for another term as top cop, and John Cruikshank, the mayor of Rancho Palos Verdes, a city of about 40,000. Hahn represents the 4th District, which spans the southern and southeastern parts of the county, including Long Beach and Torrance.
After two terms, Barger, a lifelong Republican endorsed by labor unions, was running against four candidates, including Assemblymember Chris Holden (D-Pasadena), to represent the 5th district in the northern part of the county, including Lancaster, Santa Clarita and Burbank.
Finally, Mitchell was fighting to keep her seat after one term representing the 2nd District, which includes South L.A., Inglewood and Carson as well as unincorporated Marina Del Rey and Willowbrook. Her challengers for a seat that has been held by a Black leader for the last three decades included educator Daphne D. Bradford and nonprofit executives Clint D. Carlton and Katrina Williams.
Each supervisor represents roughly 2 million constituents and can hold office for up to three terms. In the past, many supervisors have won reelection twice and served the full 12 years.
In each district, if no one wins more than 50% of the votes on March 5, the top two candidates will compete in a November runoff election.
Barger and her supporters gathered Tuesday night at Mijares Mexican Restaurant in Pasadena, dining on chicken flautitas and beef taquitos.
Cheers erupted as a Barger staffer announced some early returns.
“I feel good because I really feel that I ran a campaign that I can hold my head high on. I never attacked any of my opponents because I felt that people don’t want to know about the attacks — they want to know what you’re going to do,” said Barger, sipping what she said was her one margarita of the evening.
“I’m going to the bar now that I heard that,” a Barger supporter said.
Holden did not host a watch party.
Barger, a county employee since the late 1980s, and Holden, who has held public office for about 35 years, were the best-known candidates in the 5th District. The two exchanged barbs in mailers, with Holden suggesting that Barger supports Donald Trump, a claim Barger has denied. She has repeatedly said that party affiliation has no place in local politics.
The five county supervisors control a $43-billion budget and a workforce of 110,000 that is responsible for the running of everything from the region’s public hospitals to its jails.
The supervisors also serve as a quasi-city council to the 1 million residents who live in the roughly 120 unincorporated areas of the county.
Villanueva’s candidacy was expected to add some excitement to the typically sleepy county supervisors races. During his one term as sheriff, he regularly sparred with the supervisors and their staff over the size of his budget and the scope of their oversight.
But his fundraising lagged far behind Hahn’s, limiting his ability to get out his message that L.A. County is a crime-ridden region in need of fresh leadership. At one point, his primary account on X, formerly known as Twitter, was shut down, further limiting his reach.
Like Hahn and Barger, Mitchell is running in a reshaped district. In 2021, an independent redistricting committee moved predominantly white communities, including Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach, from Hahn’s 4th District into the 2nd. This raised concerns about whether a Black leader could continue to win the seat.
Mitchell said many elected officials from the beach cities that were added to her district showed up at her at watch party at Sip & Sonder, a Black-owned coffee and teahouse in Inglewood.
She said she was heartened by early results, which showed her leading her three competitors.
“My goal was to try to hit it out of the park here in the primary,” she said. “My fingers are crossed. We just need to hold onto it.”
