LOS ANGELES—Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti was re-elected on Tuesday, March 7 defeating 10 rival candidates by a landslide vote.
Two hours after the polls closed, Garcetti claimed victory winning 81 percent of the votes. Mitchell Shwartz was in second place with 8 percent of the votes and David Hernandez came in third place with 3 percent of the votes. The remaining 7 candidates had 1 percent or less.
“In the lead-up to election day, the visibility that he had from television, digital media and other campaign activities certainly increased people’s awareness of him all across Southern California. Running on the successes that he has, and receiving that kind of response from voters, validates his mayorship, and certainly provides him with a great story to tell no matter what he runs for,” said Eric Bauman, Chairman of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party in an interview.
Despite the recent surge in homelessness and crime that threatened to weaken Garcetti’s support, he stressed throughout his campaign his record for raising the minimum wage, cutting business taxes and backing ballot measures to expand public transit and house the homeless.
“Thank you, Los Angeles. I am deeply honored to serve a second term as your Mayor,” Garcetti said in a tweet.
