Two Council incumbents endorsed by Garcia (and by the Police and Firefighters Union PACs and the PressTelegram) were forced into June runoffs in LB's 5th and 7th Council districts.

Voter turnout was unofficially 13.4% of LB's registered voters. Over twice the number of voters used "vote by mail" ballots (roughly 9.3% of the 13.4%) compared to 4.2% who voted at precinct polling places. In other words, the election was likely decided by voters who'd already formed their opinions before many campaign mailers began flying. Incumbents Mungo and Uranga were both above the 50% runoff level in vote-by-mail ballots, until precinct ballots were tallied.

The low citywide voter turnout also reflects the lack of contested races for other citywide offices...because no challengers surfaced for City Auditor, City Prosecutor or City Attorney or in the 1st Council district or for some LBUSD and LBCC races.

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In unofficial returns (with 3,865 provisional ballots, vote by mail ballots (turned in at polls and arrived on deadline day remaining to be counted), incumbent Garcia received 79% of votes cast against James "Henk" Conn, an individual with a few hundred dollars in campaign funds and without professional campaign assistance. He was Garcia's sole opponent after Robert Fox, a potentially formidable candidate (who led efforts in opposition to a new Land Use Element) chose not to enter the Mayor's race after meeting with Garcia hours before the filing deadline. Following the meeting, Garcia issued a statement to the effect that the two had "been discussing next steps on the Land Use Element and other important issues" and were "working together to host a series of Mayoral Land Use Roundtables in the weeks ahead" and Garcia added that he opposes rent control.

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A little over half of 5th and 7th district voting constituents voted against their current Councilmembers Stacy Mungo and Roberto Uranga, who drew 48.5% and 47.9% of their respective district's votes. They'll face challengers Rich Dines (5th dist) and Jared Milrad (7th dist.) who finished with about 29.8% and 31.9% of their respective district's votes. Grassroots challengers Corliss Lee (5th dist.) and Kevin Shin (7th dist.) finished third with roughly 17.7% and 15.9% of the vote respectively.

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3rd dist. Councilwoman Suzie Price was re-elected with roughly 78% of the vote. Grassroots challenger and veteran environmental advocate Gordana Kajer finished second (12.6%) while newcomer Robert Savin finished third (8.8%).

In the race for an LBCC Board of Trustee seat (Bixby Knolls to NLB), Uduak-Joe Ntuk, bolstered by a $10,000 in-kind contribution from Vice Mayor Rex Richardson, drew 56.3% of the vote against longtime incumbent (and former 8th dist Councilman) Jeff Kellogg.

In the race for an LBUSD Board seat, Juan Benitez (46.7%) and Cesar Armendariz (33.2%) head to a June runoff.

In the 9th Council district, Vice Mayor Richardson was re-elected with 80% of the vote after his sole ballot challenger, Mineo Gonzalez, said he was ending campaigning after becoming the victim of a campaign "dirty trick" in which some still unidentified person(s) created a website in the Gonzalez's name that carried bogus messages...and at some point thereafter, Mr. Gonzalez indicated he'd re-entered the race.

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1st district incumbent Lena Gonzalez faced no ballot opponent(s). Nor did LB's citywide City Auditor, City Attorney or City Prosecutor.

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