Results for APA Candidates in County, Municipal Races

Following are more results for Asian Pacific American candidates in the June 5 California primary.

Los Angeles County

Assessor: Incumbent Jeffrey Prang received 352,217 votes (46.40 percent) and will face off in November with John “Lower Taxes” Loew (186,657, 24.59 percent). Sandy Sun was third with 150,121 (19.78 percent) and Krish Indra Kumar was fourth with 70,114 (9.24 percent). All three challengers are deputy assessors who stressed their experience as appraisers. Sun also pointed out that in 168 years, the county has never had a female assessor.

Superior Court, Office 16: Los Angeles Deputy City Attorney Patricia (Patti) Hunter was first with 275,805 (38.61 percent), followed by Redondo Beach Senior Deputy City Prosecutor Sydne Jane Michel with 271,581 (38.02 percent) and Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Hubert S. Yun with 166,960 (23.37 percent). Yun, a gang murder prosecutor, pledged to “ensure that all parties get the highest quality of justice” and “ensure public safety.”

Tony Cho

Superior Court, Office 60: Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Tony J. Cho was first with 329,145 (45.95 percent), followed by attorney Holly Hancock with 263,365 (36.77 percent) and Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Ben Colella with 123,734 (17.28 percent). Cho, a board member of the Korean Prosecutors Association and the National Asian Pacific Islander Prosecutors Association, pledged to “increase public confidence in the judicial system,” “provide equal access to the courts for all,” and “ensure all parties have a fair opportunity to be heard.”

Torrance City Council: In a six-way race for three seats, the top finishers were incumbent Tim Goodrich with 8,884 (21.40 percent), retired program manager George Chen with 7,814 (18.82 percent) and small business owner Aurelio Mattucci with 7,669 (18.47 percent). Also running were incumbent Kurt Weideman (7,002, 16.86 percent), businessman Bill Sutherland (6,728, 16.20 percent) and education event manager Jimmy Gow (3,424, 8.25 percent).

Sandra Chen Lau

Pasadena Area Community College District Governing Board, Area 1: Museum executive and nonprofit development consultant Sandra Chen Lau was first with 5,290 (59.05 percent), unseating incumbent Ross Selvidge (3,669, 40.95 percent). Chen Lau serves on the PCC Foundation Board, PCC’s Pacific Islander Advisory Council and Pasadena’s Northwest Commission, and is associate vice president of the Japanese American National Museum.

Noting that PCC has had six presidents in less than 10 years and was recently on academic probation, Chen Lau said her goals are to rebuild campus morale and stability, focus on success for all students, including returning veterans, and build for the future with a strong framework of fiscal responsibility.

Orange County

Board of Education, Trustee Area 2: ESL teacher and parent Mari Barke was first with 28,487 (40.03 percent), followed by incumbent David Boyd with 25,793 (36.25 percent) and education rights advocate Matt Nguyen with 16,877 (23.72 percent). A son of Vietnamese refugees, Nguyen has taught at Edison High School, UC Berkeley and Yale Law School.

Michelle Steel

Board of Supervisors, District 2: Incumbent Michelle Steel was in first place with 48,904 (63.44 percent), followed by aerospace business executive Brendon Perkins with 18,573 (24.09 percent) and small business owner Michael Mahony with 9,610 (12.47 percent). Born in South Korea, Steel served on the State Board of Equalization and was elected to the Board of Supervisors in 2014. She was part of a delegation of Republican elected officials from California who recently visited the White House to discuss immigration policy with President Trump.

The district includes Buena Park, Costa Mesa, Cypress, Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Newport Beach, Seal Beach, and Stanton.

Lisa Bartlett

Board of Supervisors, District 5: Incumbent Lisa Bartlett was unopposed for re-election. Bartlett, a businesswoman of Japanese descent, served as mayor and councilmember in Dana Point. She was elected to the Board of Supervisors in 2014 and was named its chairwoman in 2016.

The district includes Aliso Viejo, Dana Point, Irvine, Laguna Beach, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Woods, Lake Forest, Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, San Clemente, and San Juan Capistrano.

Hugh Nguyen

Clerk-Recorder: Incumbent Hugh Nguyen was returned to office with 239,772 (78.50 percent), while retired teacher and writer Steve Rocco received 65,683 (21.50 percent). Nguyen was appointed clerk-recorder by the Board of Supervisors in 2013 and was elected to a four-year term in 2014. He is the first Vietnamese American in the nation to be elected county clerk-recorder.

Sheriff-Coroner: Undersheriff Don Barnes was in first place with 161,227 (50.69 percent), followed by Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office senior investigator and former Santa Ana police officer Duke Nguyen with 95,418 (30 percent) and Aliso Viejo Mayor David Harrington, a retired OCSD sergeant, with 61,439 (19.32 percent). Sheriff Sandra Hutchens announced last year that she would not seek re-election. Barnes is her hand-picked successor.

Nguyen said his goal was to “revitalize and old and archaic system and evolve it into something that works for our community, not against it … I will not sit back while our communities face systemic corruption, racism and disenfranchisement of those who are most ill-prepared to help themselves.”

Riverside County

Board of Education, Trustee Area 1: Kim Joseph Cousins, former Lake Elsinore school board member, was first with 7,438 (41.50 percent), followed by Oliver “Coach O” Unaka, public information officer for the Pomona Unified School District (6,672, 37.22 percent) and scientist/educator Javed Iqbal Khan (3,815, 21.28 percent).

Imperial County

Board of Supervisors, District 1: Incumbent John Renison was first with 731 (37.47 percent), followed by Calexico City Councilmember Jesus Eduardo Escobar (511, 26.19 percent), former Calexico Mayor Joong S. Kim (431, 22.09 percent) and Carlos “Jesse” Conreras (278, 14.25 percent).

Santa Barbara County

Sheriff-Coroner: Incumbent Bill Brown was in first place with 28,405 (54.01 percent), followed by Lt. Brian Olmstead (16,626, 31.61 percent) and Lt. Eddie Hsueh (7,465, 14.19 percent). Hsueh, who has worked for the county for 31 years and has expertise in working with populations experiencing mental illness, was endorsed by the Santa Barbara Democratic Central Committee.

San Luis Obispo County

Clerk-Recorder: Incumbent Tommy Gong ran unopposed except for write-ins and received 44,076 (99.76 percent). Gong has been in office since 2015. He is also the author of “Bruce Lee: The Evolution of a Martial Artist.”

Fresno County

Fresno City Council: In District 5, which covers the southeastern areas of the city, incumbent Councilmember Luis Chavez and challenger Paula Yang were the top vote-getters with 1,514 votes (41.03 percent) and 1,345 (36.45 percent), respectively, and appeared to be headed for a fall runoff. Also running were Jose Barraza (639, 17.32 percent) and Paul Condon (180, 4.88 percent). Yang, who came to the U.S. as a refugee from Laos, is a news anchor for the Hmong Channel (16.5) and former host of “Your Voice with Paula Yang” on Hmong USA TV (31.9).

Stanislaus County

Auditor-Controller: Kashmir K. Gill was unopposed except for write-ins and received 34,156 (98.14 percent). She has been an employee of the county for over 20 years and assistant auditor-controller for the past seven-plus years.

Monterey County

Auditor/Controller: Assistant Auditor-Controller Rupa Shah received 18,611 (68.33 percent) to finance director Darren Huber’s 8,624 (31.67 percent). Shah has worked over 18 years at the Monterey County Office of the Auditor-Controller and will replace her retiring boss, Michael J. Miller.

Santa Clara County

John Hirokawa

Sheriff: Incumbent Laurie Smith was in first place with 88,890 (43.84 percent), and will face off in November with her former undersheriff, John Hirokawa, who received 63,724 (31.43 percent). Also running were former military policeman Joe LaJeunesse with 23,700 (11.69 percent), former deputy sheriff Jose Salcido with 17,580 (8.67 percent) and former Parlier Police Chief Martin Monica with 8,886 (4.38 percent). Hirokawa has nearly 40 years of experience in the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, most recently serving as chief of the Department of Correction. He has picked up the endorsement of the Santa Clara County Deputy Sheriffs’ Association and police unions in Mountain View, Palo Alto and San Jose.

San Jose Mayor: Incumbent Sam Liccardo led with 86,835 (75.46 percent), followed by former City Council candidate Steve Brown with 16,640 (14.46 percent), writer and business owner QuangMinh Pham with 8,533 (7.41 percent) and retired marriage and family counselor Tyrone Wade with 3,071 (2.67 percent).

Tam Nguyen

San Jose City Council, District 7: Incumbent Tam Nguyen was the top vote-getter with 2,765 (31.31 percent) and is headed for a rematch with veterans’ advocate and teacher Maya Esparza (2,088, 23.64 percent), who narrowly lost to Nguyen in 2014. Also running were school trustee and businesswoman Van T. Le with 1,205 (13.64 percent), senior loan officer Thomas Duong with 1,058 (11.98 percent), engineer and businessman Jonathan Benjamin Fleming with 955 (10.81 percent), driver Omar Vasquez with 489 (5.54 percent), and City of Oakland Tax Auditor Hoang “Chris” Le with 272 (3.08 percent).

San Francisco (City and County)

Mayor: Under the ranked-choice voting (RCV) system, the first-choice totals had Board of Supervisors President London Breed in the lead with 58,562 (35.89 percent), followed by former State Sen. Mark Leno (42,005, 25.74 percent), Supervisor Jane Kim (37,075, 22.72 percent), former Supervisor Angela Alioto (12,230, 7.49 percent), behavioral health clinician Ellen Lee Zhou (6,708, 4.11 percent), small business advisor Richie Greenberg (4,921, 3.02 percent), nonprofit executive director Amy Farah Weiss (1,068, 0.6 percent) and holistic health practitioner Michelle Bravo (620, 0.38 percent).

The RCV system, designed to provide an “instant runoff” instead of holding a separate runoff election, allows voters to designate their first, second and third choices for an office. As lower-scoring candidates are eliminated, the tally is recalculated. At last count, Leno was slightly ahead of Breed, 50.40 percent to 49.60 percent.

Kim, who appeared to be out of the running, had endorsed Leno as her second-place selection. “While there are ballots left to count, I am excited for a Mayor Mark Leno administration,” she said on Facebook on Wednesday. Kim, who previously served on the Board of Education and ran unsuccessfully for State Senate in 2016, would have been the city’s first Asian American female mayor. She is the city’s first Korean American elected official.

Breed, whose district includes Japantown, would be the city’s first African American female mayor. Leno, who previously served in the Assembly and on the Board of Supervisors, would be the city’s first openly gay mayor.

The winner will succeed Ed Lee, the city’s first Asian American mayor, who died unexpectedly in December. Breed briefly served as acting mayor before Supervisor Mark Farrell was appointed interim mayor.

Superior Court Judge, Seat 4: Incumbent Andrew Y.S. Cheng received 90,237 (65.31 percent) to Public Defender’s Office attorney Phoenix Streets’ 47,320 (34.25 percent).

Superior Court Judge, Seat 9: Incumbent Cynthia Ming-Mei Lee received 86,669 (63.37 percent), followed by Deputy Public Defender Kwixuan H. Maloof with 34,900 (25.52 percent) and Assessment Appeals Board Commissioner Elizabeth Zareh with 14,509 (10.61 percent).

Alameda County

Wilma Chan

Board of Supervisors, District 3: Supervisor Wilma Chan, president of the board, was unopposed except for write-in candidates and received 24,683 (97.12 percent). Chan served on the Board of Supervisors from 1994 to 2000 and in the State Assembly from 2000 to 2006, then was elected to her old seat on the Board of Supervisors in 2010 and 2014.

The district includes the cities of Alameda and San Leandro; Oakland’s Chinatown, Jack London, Fruitvale and San Antonio neighborhoods; and the unincorporated communities of San Lorenzo, Hayward Acres and a portion of Ashland.

Assessor: The four-way race to succeed Ron Thomsen, who decided not to seek re-election, resulted in a fall runoff between tax attorney Phong La (52,189, 36.61 percent) and James Johnson (36,965,25.93 percent), who has worked for the Assessor’s Office for 26 years. Also running were assessment appeals officer John Weed (31,179, 21.87 percent) and certified general appraiser Kevin Lopez (21,064, 14.77 percent).