[img]2398|right|Autumn Burke||no_popup[/img]On another primary election day when 80 percent of registered voters watched television instead of going to the polls, neighboring politicians registered their expected lopsided victories and former Los Angeles City Controller Wendy Greuel practiced for her next defeat.
Autumn Burke, the glamourous daughter of former powerhouse Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, drubbed a field of seven faceless foes in a bid to represent Inglewood and surrounding communities in the state Assembly.
As the only recognizable name, Ms. Burke earned 41 percent of the vote, more than doubling the count of runnerup Ted J. Grose.
The two uncontroversial statewide ballot measures never were tested. Prop. 41, the veterans housing act, won 71 percent, and Prop. 42, about who will pay for access to public records, took 64 percent.
Six months after winning his first electoral office, state Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley-Thomas (D-Culver City, Crenshaw) scrubbed his doomed Republican opponent,
Glen Ratliff, 78 percent to 22, 27,011 votes to 7,565.
State Sen. Holly J. Mitchell (D-Culver City, Crenshaw) won with an almost embarrassing 86 percent while U.S. Rep. Karen Bass (D-Culver City, Crenshaw) nearly matched her with 80 percent.
Elsewhere, in the closely watched County Board of Supervisors races, former U.S. Labor secretary Hilda Solis, who ran a standstill campaign against minimal opposition, won Gloria Romero’s seat with 70 percent.
As Zev Yaroslavsky’s potential successor, Sheila Kuehl outpointed runnerup Bobby Shriver 36 percent to 29, and they will have a runoff.
In the bid for retiring U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman’s seat, representing theWestside and the South Bay, Republican Elan Carr scored a surprising 21 percent to 19 victory over veteran state legislator Ted Lieu.
Ms. Greuel, who has perfected the design of losing campaigns, finished third at 17 percent.
In the bitterly dueled chase to replaced the fairly disgraced Lee Baca as County Sheriff, Jim McDonnell, Long Beach police chief, barely missed avoiding a runoff. He took 49.14 percent of the vote to 15 percent for former sheriff’s deputy Paul Tanaka, whose record has become splotched with dark assertions.
