Election 2024: Long Beach voters pass Measure RW; City Council incumbents dominate
The Los Angeles County registrar’s office certified the Tuesday, March 5 election results on Friday, March 29. The results of the March 5 local elections in Long Beach have been officially announced, with over 53% of voters approving Measure RW, which will increase the minimum wage for certain hotel workers to $23 per hour in 2024. The measure will also ensure annual 6.45% pay raises for these employees over the next five years, bringing them to $29.50 per hour by 2028. The minimum wage increase will only apply to hotels with at least 100 guest rooms, and hotel operators can opt out if they enter into a negotiated union contract with terms different from those laid out in Measure RW. Vice Mayor Cindy Allen has been re-elected to a second term as the 2nd District’s representative, with about 54% of the votes. The race for Long Beach’�s 4th District remains undecided, with no candidates winning enough support to win the race outright.
Published : a month ago by gqlshare in Politics
The grand total of results from the Tuesday, March 5 local elections are in — and Long Beach voters have approved a new ballot measure and selected several City Council representatives.
The Los Angeles County registrar’s office released its final election results at around 12:20 p.m. on Friday, March 29. Across LA County, more than 1.6 million ballots have been tallied, for a total voter turnout of nearly 29%.
Here are the certified election results for Long Beach’s local races.
Long Beach’s Measure RW — which will increase the minimum wage for certain hotel workers to $23 per hour — has officially won voter approval.
More than 53% of voters cast their ballots in favor of the measure, which needed a simply majority to pass, according to the registrar’s office.
Aside from raising the current minimum wage for certain hotel workers to $23 an hour in 2024, Measure RW will also ensure annual 6.45% pay raises for those employees over the next five years — for a total of $29.50 per hour by 2028.
Currently, the minimum wage for Long Beach hotel workers is $17.55 an hour.
The wage increase schedule, the city said previously, would only apply to hotels with at least 100 guest rooms — and hotel operators will be allowed to opt out if they enter into a negotiated union contract with terms different from those laid out in Measure RW.
Supporters include Unite Here Local 11, a labor union representing about 15,000 workers at 65 major hotels in Los Angeles and Orange counties, which spurred Long Beach’s Measure RW ballot initiative.
“The Long Beach community, once again, stood with workers in their fight for family sustaining wages,” Grecia Lopez-Reyes, a campaign director of Long Beach for a Just Economy, said in a previous press release. “This is a major victory for working families in Long Beach.”
Vice Mayor Cindy Allen has been re-elected to a second term as the 2nd District’s representative, according to the registrar’s Friday announcement.
The incumbent, who was elected to her first term in office in 2020, snagged about 54% of the votes on Friday — well above the threshold needed to win the race outright.
Allen’s main opponent, Friends of Bixby Park President Ketty Cetterio, had about 41% of the votes.
The Second District includes a good chunk of the city’s waterfront, Bixby Park and the Long Beach Museum of Art.
The race for Long Beach’s 4th District remains undecided with the registrar’s Friday vote certification — as none of the four candidates have secured enough support to win the race outright.
The top two finishers, instead, will head to a run off in the November general election.
Incumbent Councilmember Daryl Supernaw — who came just shy of an outright victory with just over 48% of the votes — will face of against runner up Long Beach City College board Trustee Herlinda Chico, who was far behind with just over 25% of the votes.
District 4 is home to Cal State Long Beach, El Dorado East and West Regional Parks, and Millikan High School on Long Beach’s east side.
Long Beach voters — beyond a shadow of a doubt — have also re-elected Sixth District incumbent Councilmember Suely Saro, who had more than 76% of the votes.
Saro secured an early lead in the race against her opponent, political newcomer and educator Cristino Pinto, who had about 23% of the votes on Friday.
Those margins remained relatively unchanged with each update from the registrar after election night.
The Sixth District — home to Long Beach City College, Poly High School, Lincoln Park, the Mark Twain Neighborhood Library and Cambodia Town — is located in Central Long Beach and borders Signal Hill.
Nonprofit president and CEO Tunua Thrash-Ntuk will soon take her seat on the dais as the Eighth District’s newest representative — replacing current Councilmember Al Austin, who was termed out of office this year.
Thrash-Ntuk won the Eighth District race outright with nearly 56% of the votes. Her competitor, small business owner Sharifa Batts, had nearly 44%.
The candidates were separated by 574 votes.
The Eighth District includes various neighborhoods, including a part of Bixby Knolls, Addams, Dairy, Jackson, Coolidge Triangle and more.
Democratic incumbent Lena Gonzalez continued to lead the race with just over 68% of the vote — but the final results of cross-county elections will not be formally certified until next month.
The battle for second place, alongside a spot in the November general election, appears to be getting clearer with the registrar’s latest update.
Republican Mario Paz trailed in second with about 17% and Republican Sharifah Hardie had about 14% at the time of the Friday update.
The seat includes most of Long Beach and moves into southeast L.A. cities, including Lynwood, Vernon, Huntington Park, Bell and South Gate. This area is heavily populated with historic neighborhoods and industry.
Topics: 2024 Elections, Voters