Jon Regardie is a veteran Los Angeles journalist who has contributed to dozens of local and national publications, including L.A. Downtown News, where he served as editor, and Los Angeles Magazine, Blueprint, Westside Current and The Eastsider.
At key points in the last half century, mayoral elections have served to unite disparate portions of Los Angeles through shared excitement about the city’s future.
A coalition of African American and Jewish voters in 1973 ushered in a new political era by helping elect Tom Bradley over three-term incumbent Sam Yorty. Two decades later, Republican businessman Richard Riordan, riding a campaign slogan of “Tough Enough to Turn L.A. Around,” scored a resounding victory over Democratic Councilmember Mike Woo. In 2005, Antonio Villaraigosa steamrolled beleaguered incumbent Jim Hahn, and L.A. thrilled at electing its first Latino mayor in a century.
In 2022, Angelenos came together to elect Karen Bass as the city’s first African American woman mayor. Remember that inauguration with Vice President Kamala Harris and Stevie Wonder?
The situation in 2026 could not be more different. The results from the June 2 primary reveal a city less politically divided than utterly fractured, where disagreement over how government should be run is increasingly leading to deep-seated distrust. That in turn makes it ever more challenging to home in on what the city should prioritize and how it should utilize its financial and other resources.
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The mayor’s race managed the unique feat of cleaving the electorate in three. With approximately 836,000 ballots returned, according to Political Data Inc., Mayor Karen Bass leads with 34.3%, a downright wimpy count for an incumbent (though Hahn’s 23.6% in the 2005 primary was worse, paving the way for Villaraigosa’s victory in the general election). While Councilmember Nithya Raman can celebrate making the runoff, her 29% means that seven of every 10 voters wanted someone else. Spencer Pratt’s firebrand campaign ignited angry Angelenos, but not enough of them — he finished third, with 25.5%.
While the results showcase Angelenos’ split feelings about the candidates, they also reflect a political divide that has surfaced and expanded in recent years. Bass is a moderate Democrat, while Raman hails from the party’s progressive wing that has grown more influential in City Hall since her first council victory in 2020. Her mayoral campaign benefitted from the recommendation (though not the formal endorsement) of the local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. Pratt was a registered Republican, though he sought to downplay party affiliation in the nonpartisan race.
Mariel Garza
A similar dynamic played out in the city attorney race. Incumbent Hydee Feldstein Soto flatlined with 18%, making her, as the Los Angeles Times reported, the first person in the post since 1933 to not make the general election.
But Angelenos were not united around another candidate, splintering the remainder of the vote mostly between two very different candidates. Marissa Roy, a deputy attorney general under Rob Bonta who was endorsed by the DSA-LA, finished first with 43%. Career prosecutor John McKinney trails Roy with 28.6% of the vote. A fourth candidate, Aida Ashouri, received 10%. Expect round two to be something of a sequel to the bitter 2024 L.A. County district attorney race, with Roy in the progressive lane of George Gascón, and McKinney embodying the law-and-order tack of Nathan Hochman (who won that race, and is endorsing McKinney).
Further down the ballot, the results reveal a city fragmented by geography.
On the Eastside, a pair of progressive incumbents supported by the DSA-LA — District 1 Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez and District 13’s Hugo Soto-Martinez — faced challenges from multiple centrist candidates. Both overcame speculation that they could be forced into a runoff and won re-election outright because they earned more than 50% of the vote.
Golden State staff
In the Westside’s District 11, however, moderate Democrat Traci Park won re-election in a landslide over a challenge by DSA-backed attorney Faizah Malik.
Angelenos even managed to split on hotel-oriented tax measures targeting the visitor surge that will accompany the 2028 Olympics. With nearly all votes counted, Measure TC, which would make travel companies such as Priceline and Hotels.com responsible for paying city hotel taxes, is passing. Meanwhile, Measure TT, which would raise the current 14% hotel tax to 16% through 2028 (and then stay at 15% afterward) is failing.
Countywide, residents are nearly evenly divided on another tax proposal. Measure ER, a half-cent sales tax to fund healthcare costs threatened by federal budget cuts, at first looked to be doomed. But late ballots favored the measure, and it currently stands at 50.6%-49.4%. That’s a 24,400-vote gap out of the 2 million county ballots tabulated.
What does all this fragmentation say about Los Angeles? Nothing good, and with challenges including (but not limited to) the 2028 Olympics and ongoing clashes with Washington, the city would benefit from a transformational leader able to find collective common ground and make us excited about the next four years. But that may be impossible at a time when homeownership is out of reach for young people, everyone is frustrated by the ongoing homelessness crisis, and the ideological divide is turning into a chasm.
At this point it seems that the only thing everyone can agree on is an appreciation for Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani. But if that went on a ballot, who knows how Angelenos would actually vote?
Brittany Friedman
