State Sen. Holly Mitchell on Wednesday celebrated an unexpectedly lopsided victory in her race against L.A. City Councilman Herb Wesson to replace termed-out Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas in the county's 2nd District.
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Results from Tuesday night's election showed Mitchell with a surprisingly wide margin, pulling in nearly 61% of the vote, collecting roughly 100,000 more votes than Wesson.
"I'm honored to have earned the opportunity to represent the residents of the Second Supervisorial District. This was a community-driven campaign based on creating a more equitable, inclusive, and prosperous LA County," Mitchell said in a tweet. "Now is the time to turn our vision into action."
Although initial vote-counting from the election wrapped up early Wednesday morning, there were still an unknown number of ballots remaining to be counted. But they were unlikely to erase a 100,000-vote deficit for Wesson.
The 2nd District consists of roughly 2 million residents in cities such as Carson, Compton Inglewood, Gardena and parts of Los Angeles.
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Mitchell says those residents are experiencing a "public health and economic crisis" and that she wants to address their "immediate, urgent needs."
The race had been expected to be much closer, with the pair splitting progressive support and taking relatively close positions on many issues.
Mitchell's victory means the county board once referred to as "five little kings" will be run by five women for the first time in its history.
City News Service contributed to this report.