APA Candidates Compete in County Races

Rafu Staff Report

Several Asian Pacific Americans were candidates in local elections on June 7. Following are some of the results for Southern California counties.

Los Angeles County

Board of Supervisors, District 5 — In an eight-way race to succeed termed-out Supervisor Mike Antonovich, real estate investor Rajpal Kahlon was in last place with 3,091 votes (1.14 percent). The runoff will be between Kathryn Barger, Antonovich’s chief of staff, who received 81,362 votes (29.88 percent), and educator/budget specialist Darrell Park, who received 40,958 (15.04 percent).

Paul Kim

Judge of the Superior Court, Office No. 11 — Deputy District Attorney Paul Kim finished third in a field of four with 163,784 votes (14.45 percent). Deputy District Attorneys Debra Archuleta and Steven Schreiner were in first and second place with 538,816 (47.54 percent) and 302,363 (26.67 percent), respectively. Civil practitioner Jonathan Alexan Malek was fourth with 128,546 (11.34 percent). The winner of the general election will succeed Judge Michelle Rosenblatt.

Susan Jung Townsend

Judge of the Superior Court, Office No. 84 — Deputy District Attorney Susan Jung Townsend led with 403,586 votes (36.65 percent), followed by Deputy District Attorney Javier Perez with 344,881 (31.32 percent), Deputy District Attorney Hubert S. Yun with 191,738 (17.41 percent) and small business attorney Aaron J. Weissman with 161,116 (14.63 percent). The winner of the general election will succeed Judge Kathleen Diesman.

Kim L. Nguyen

Judge of the Superior Court, Office No. 158 — Kim L. Nguyen was the top vote-getter with 393,053 (34.78 percent), followed by David A. Berger with 318,294 (28.17 percent), Fred Mesropi with 192,867 (17.07 percent), Naser “Nas” Khoury with 137,338 (12.15 percent) and Onica Valle Cole with 88,464 (7.83 percent). The winner of the general election will succeed Judge Elden Fox.

Julianne Sumiko Hines

Democratic County Committee, 41st Assembly District — Among 14 candidates for seven seats, Julianne Sumiko Hines was in fifth place with 9,185 votes (7.87 percent). Also elected were Karen K. Suarez, Kathy Patterson, Tracy Lee Taylor, Debi Evans, Zahir Robb and Zephyr W. Tate-Mann. Hines is vice president of external affairs for Planned Parenthood Pasadena and San Gabriel Valley, former member of the Pasadena Commission on the Status of Women (2010-2013), former district director for Assemblymember Anthony Portantino (2006-2012) and former field representative for Assemblymember Carol Liu (2004-2006).

Democratic County Committee, 49th Assembly District — In an eight-way race, San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District board member Thomas Wong was second with 8,466 votes (14.10 percent) and Garvey School District board member Henry Lo was third with 8,249 (13.74 percent). Also elected were Marcella Cortez, Adele F. Andrade-Stadler, Nina Sharky, W. Craig Athon and John Kraft.

Democratic County Committee, 51st Assembly District — Among 15 candidates, Donna Choi just made the cut by finishing in seventh place with 6,729 votes (6.01 percent). Also elected were Luis Lopez, Lisa Alva, Barbara Frances Torres, Mary Rose Ortega, Mark Gonzalez and Gail M. Burns.

Democratic County Committee, 52nd Assembly District — Vivian Yoshioka finished fourth out of eight candidates with 2,116 votes (11.39 percent). Also elected were debra M. Martin, Fabian Naranjo Gonzalez, Aura Sandoval, Margaret Lynn Winningham, John Mendoza and Michael Aaron Felix.

Republican County Committee, 57th Assembly District — Among 14 candidates, Changhai Ahn was in last place with 2,489 votes (4.19 percent). The winners were Robert W. Patt Jr., Terry Edward Stephens, Brenda Joan Jahn, Sylvia Granados-Southerland, Sandra M. Keat, Selma H. Minerd and Zurich Lewis.

Orange County

Andrew Do

Board of Supervisors, District 3 — Incumbent Supervisor Andrew Do finished first with 28,160 votes (36.6 percent), followed by Santa Ana City Councilmember Michele Martinez with 27,307 (35.5 percent). The two will be in the November runoff. Garden Grove City Councilmember Phat Bui was third with 14,524 (18.9 percent) and former Orange Unified School District board member Steve Rocco fourth with 6,961 (9.0 percent).

Thuy D. Pham

Office of the Superior Court, Office No. 40 — Orange County Deputy District Attorney Larry Yellin defeated Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Thuy D. Pham, 325,887 (69.3 percent) to 144,159 (30.7 percent). Yellin will succeed Judge Steven Perk.

Democratic County Central Committee, 74th Assembly District — Incumbent Dean Inada finished sixth out of seven candidates with 14,626 votes (13.1 percent), but it was enough to be re-elected. Also elected were incumbents Marleen Gillespie, Janice Burstin and Jonathan Adler, along with Jill Cseresznyak and Farrah N. Khan.

Republican County Central Committee, 55th Assembly District — Incumbent Peggy Huang made the cut, finishing fourth out of 15 candidates with 8,326 votes (8.7 percent). Also elected were Craig Young and incumbents Tim Shaw, Brett R. Barbre, Eugene J. “Gene” Hernandez and James G. Gerbus.

Republican County Central Committee, 65th Assembly District — Among 16 candidates, Peter Kim was eighth with 7,464 votes (6.8 percent), Charles Kim ninth with 6,979 (6.4 percent) and Sou Moua 16th with 1,983 (1.8 percent). The winners were incumbents Shawn Nelson and Baron Night, Leroy Mills, incumbent David John Shawver, Chris Norby and John “Jack” Bedell.

Republican County Central Committee, 68th Assembly District — Steven S. Choi, also a candidate for State Assembly, won a seat by placing fourth out of 19 candidates with 14,477 votes (7.9 percent). The other winners were incumbents Supervisor Todd Spitzer, Deborah Pauly and Fred Whitaker, Mark William Bucher and incumbent Jeffrey Lalloway.

Republican County Central Committee, 69th Assembly District — Steven A. Nguyen won a seat by placing fourth out of nine candidates with 4,801 votes (11.5 percent). Also elected were incumbents Robert M. Hammond, Brett Elliott Franklin and Thomas Anthony Gordon, Cecilia “Ceci” Iglesias and incumbent Timothy “Tim” Ryan Whitacre.

Republican County Central Committee, 72nd Assembly District — Out of 11 candidates, incumbent Supervisor Andrew Do was in second place with 17,195 votes (12.7 percent) and Tyler Diep was in fifth place with 13,020 (9.6 percent). Also elected were incumbents Michael E. Gates and Kermit Marsh, Dean Grose and incumbent John W. Briscoe. Phat Bui was in eighth place with 10,840 (8.0 percent).

Republican County Central Committee, 73rd Assembly District — Supervisor Lisa Bartlett finished second out of 12 candidates with 22,624 votes (11.2 percent). Also elected were Laurie Davies, incumbent Mary Young, Ed Sachs and incumbents Tony Beall and Mike Munzing.

Republican County Central Committee, 74th Assembly District — Anthony C. Kuo was last out of 15 candidates with 6,803 votes (3.7 percent). The winners were incumbents Rhonda Rohrabacher and Scott Baugh, Erik K. Weigand, Michael B. McClellan, and incumbents Thomas A. “T.J.” Fuentes and John Warner.

Santa Barbara County

Das Williams

Assemblymember Das Williams (D-Santa Barbara) was on top in the race for the District 1 seat on the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors with 10,702 votes (58.98 percent) to 7,391 (40.74 percent) for Jennifer Christensen, the county’s investment officer. Williams, a member of the Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus, has served three terms in the Assembly, the maximum allowed. He was previously a member of the Santa Barbara City Council. Many had urged Williams to run for Congress, but he decided to stay closer to home.

Uncontested Judicial Races

If a superior court judge runs unopposed for re-election, his or her name does not appear on the ballot and he or she is automatically re-elected following the general election, according to Ballotpedia. Among these judges are the following:

Alameda County — Margaret Fujioka, Office 14

Los Angeles County — Lisa Mangay Chung, Office 15; Tammy Chung Ryu, Office 17; Dan Thomas Oki, Office 98; Elaine Lu, Office 100; Christopher K. Lui, Office 126; Tomson T. Ong, Office 131; Lee W. Tsao, Office 133; Mark Hanasono, Office 141; Gary Tanaka, Office 147; John R. Takasugi, Office 156; John H. Ing, Office 160; Dorothy C. Kim, Office 170; Vincent H. Okamoto, Office 172

Merced County — Paul C. Lo, Office 5

Solano County — Timmy P. Kam, Department 7