SHERMAN OAKS—Contenders for the Los Angeles City Council District 4 seat, Carolyn Ramsay and David Ryu, are looking to the residents of Sherman Oaks for political support.
Incorporated into District 4 during the 2012 redistricting process, Sherman Oaks contains a little over 60,000 residents of the District’s overall 250,000. Despite its comparatively small size, the neighborhood is an influential political staging ground thanks to unusually high levels of political engagement among its residents. According to election data, approximately 25 percent of the 24,378 District 4 primary ballots were cast in Sherman Oaks.
According to former state Assemblyman Wally Knox, one of the 14 primary candidates for the District 4 seat, Sherman Oaks is “going to be huge” in deciding the results of the runoff election.
Ramsay and Ryu, who did poorly among Sherman Oaks residents in the primary, now have to make themselves known to those voters. To that end, Ryu has opened a second campaign office on Ventura Boulevard, while Ramsay recently hired a field director from Sherman Oaks to oversee campaign work in the area.
Voter turnout for the May runoff is predicted to be even lower than the 9 percent that cast ballots in the primary.
Stuart Waldman, president of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association, “this race will be won or lost in Sherman Oaks.”
The runoff election will be held on May 19, two months after the first polls in March.
