Following a late-night ballot update, Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo, D-Chatsworth, claimed victory Tuesday in the 40th Assembly District race, in a statement from her campaign.
She led the race 58.6% to 41.4% as of the Wednesday evening count available on the California Secretary of State’s website. She had 79,140 votes to 55,961 for Rickey Hayes II, her Republican challenger who lives in Santa Clarita.
“I’m incredibly honored and grateful that voters have put their trust in me to continue representing our community,” Schiavo wrote in her statement, sent Tuesday from campaign spokeswoman Lindsay Bubar. “As a single mom and former small-business owner, I know firsthand how hard it can be to make ends meet when the cost of everything keeps going up. That’s why I ran for Assembly and why I’ve fought every day to lower costs, cut waste, protect taxpayers, and bring more than $111 million home to our community — all without raising taxes. I’m ready to keep delivering results and building on that work.”
Hayes was not immediately available for comment Wednesday.
He cast himself as a “doer” during The Signal’s candidate forum last month, a former Marine and law enforcement officer who knew how to get things done.
Schiavo said in a previous interview she was running on her record of delivering to her constituents. In a text message late Tuesday, she also credited a surge in local Democratic engagement across the region, which boosted several local candidates.
City Council races
Hanging on by a fairly slim margin, Denise Lite has once again found herself in a tight race, albeit this time she’s on top.
The family law attorney ran for the City Council in 2022, and missed the top three by 1.7% of the vote. She leads Brett Haddoak by 1.02% as of Wednesday evening, 39.95% to 38.93%. A total of 142 votes separate the two.
Coming in third in the three-person race is Gloria Mercado-Fortine. She had 2,961 votes with the latest count, which was good for 21.12%
In her record eighth successful election, seven-time Mayor Laurene Weste looks ready to become the first representative of Saugus/Valencia’s District 4.
Weste had 52.53% of the vote as of Wednesday evening, compared to 27.56% for Valerie Bradford, who came in second place.
There are still more than 800,000 ballots to count countywide, and the county has processed 2,279,750 ballots, so far, which represents a nearly 39% voter turnout, according to the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder’s Office.
Seeking to be District 5’s first representative, Kelvin Driscoll maintained his lead with Wednesday’s update.
Driscoll had garnered nearly half the vote, 49.1%, as of Wednesday, while opponent Bob Khalsa came in second with 41.73% and Liliia Chernova had 9.17%.
