Reform Ticket candidate Robert Fox and Garcia/Council-majority/police/firefighter union endorsed candidate Cindy Allen are headed for a November 2020 runoff. Fourth place finisher Lara was backed by exiting incumbent Jeannine Pearce.
CINDY ALLEN 1,467 28.27%
ROBERT FOX 1,415 27.26%
JEANETTE BARRERA (N) 959 18.48%
EDUARDO LARA (N) 943 18.17%
JESUS CISNEROS (N) 147 2.83%
RYAN LUM (N) 138 2.66%
NIGEL LIFSEY (N) 121 2.33%
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In the 8th district, with provisional and late arriving vote by mail ballots not yet counted, incumbent Al Austin could organized-labor backed challenger Tunua Thrash-Ntuk or Reform Ticket candidate Juan Ovalle, the latter currently 151 votes short of making the runoff.
AL AUSTIN II 1,605 35.62%
TUNUA THRASH-NTUK 1,526 33.87%
JUAN ERICK OVALLE 1,375 30.51%
In the 6th district (with no Reform Ticket candidate on the ballot) organized-labor-backed challenger Suely Saro will face Mayor/police-firefighter union backed incumbent Vice Mayor/Councilman Dee Andrews.
SUELY SARO 1,434 43.85%
DEE ANDREWS (N) 976 29.85%
ANA ARCE (N) 586 17.92%
JOSEPHINE "JOSIE" VILLASEŅOR (N) 126 3.85%
CRAIG URSUY (N) 90 2.75%
SHARIFAH HARDIE (N) 58 1.77%
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As previously reported in LBREPORT.com's "Follow the Money" coverage, independent expenditure committees backed by organized labor spent large sums to support Saro and Thrash-Ntuk. (Andrews and Austin angered those organized labor interests by declining to enact "Claudia's Law" that supported union efforts to organize LB hotel room workers.) A separate independent expenditure committee surfaced (backed by development, business and other corporate interests) supported re-electing incumbents Andrews and Austin.
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The outcome of the Mayor/Council/police-firefighter union-sought Measure A permanent General Fund sales tax increase is too close to call. With provisional and vote by mail ballots not yet counted, Measure A is failing passage by 46 votes out of over 51,000 ballots counted. A Garcia-run campaign funded mainly by LB's police and firefighter unions amassed an over half a million dollar war chest and (as of late February) spent nearly $400,000 of it against no organized opposition (mainly individual taxpayers relying on social network messages, some yard signs and hand-made hand-distributed fliers.)
On Measure A:
NO 25,590 50.04%
YES 25,544 49.96%
On Measure B (hotel room tax)
YES 24,435 57.02%
NO 18,416 42.98%
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If Measure A ultimately fails, it will be a major political defeat for Garcia's messaging and monied campaign formatics against virtually no organized or competitively funded opposition. It could also focus attention on current Mayor/Council spending practices in the upcoming Council runoffs (which will follow Aug-Sept. 2020 discussion of City Hall's FY21 budget.) Also a wild card not discussed publicly: the Mayor/Council could vote put another ballot measure on the November 2020 ballot.
The current 2016 version of Measure A requires its reduction by half in 2023 and elimination in November 2020. In the March 2020 election cycle, Reform Ticket candidates Fox and Ovalle opposed Measure A; candidates Allen, Austin, Saro and Andrews supported it..
Voters approved a Mayor/Council sought Measure B General Fund hotel room tax increase.
In LB School Board races
Dist. 2 (Central/WLB)
TONIA REYES URANGA 3,139 43.88%
ERIK MILLER 2,485 34.74%
JOHN ANDRE MATHEWS II 1,529 21.38%
Dist. 4 (SE ELB)
DOUG OTTO 7,542 52.66%
DAVINA M. KEISER 3,611 25.21%
NANCY VALENCIA 3,169 22.13%
