State Sen. Bob Hertzberg will move to the November general election in his bid to replace retiring county Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, with West Hollywood City Councilwoman Lindsey Horvath likely to join him in the runoff. Hertzberg topped the six-candidate field seeking the District 3 seat, which includes Beverly Hills. However, he fell short of the 50% of the vote needed to avoid a runoff.
Horvath was in second place as of press time, putting her on track to reach the November runoff with Hertzberg. But state Sen. Henry Stern was close behind, and hoping to mount a late challenge as ballots continued trickling in. In addition to Beverly Hills, the District 3 seat covers a majority of the San Fernando Valley, stretching from Westlake Village and Malibu to Calabasas, West Hills, Porter Ranch, San Fernando, Panorama City and Northridge, while also stretching to West Hollywood and Santa Monica.
Others running for the seat were business owners Roxanne Beckford Hoge, Jeffi Girgenti and Craig Brill. Kuehl threw her support behind Horvath, who was also backed by Supervisors Janice Hahn and Hilda Solis. Supervisor Kathryn Barger endorsed Hertzberg. The battle was widely anticipated to be a three-horse sprint among Horvath, Stern and Hertzberg, and that prediction played out. Homelessness and public safety were the top issues cited by candidates.
“As a mayor and council member, I have taken action to successfully get 80% of my community’s unhoused population off the streets and into housing and services,” Horvath wrote in her official candidate statement. “As supervisor, I will get the bureaucracy out of the way, create accountability, and expand partnerships with experts who know how to help people off the streets and into supportive housing.” She also vowed to “prioritize your safety and fight for additional resources to provide care and prevent crime from happening in the first place.”
Hertzberg has been in the state Senate since 2014 and previously served in the Assembly, including a stint as Assembly Speaker. He said the Board of Supervisors should have a representative from the San Fernando Valley. “At the state level, we’ve sent billions to L.A. County, but the county has squandered state funding I’ve worked tirelessly to bring home,” he said in his official statement. “Now I’m running for county Supervisor to fix the mess. I will take responsibility for solving emergencies like homelessness, crime, housing, and mental health — and make sure county government gets the job done.”
Stern, an environmental attorney, has been in the state Senate since 2016. He also cited homelessness and public safety as leading issues, pointing to an audit of the county’s homelessness and mental health system that found what he called $1 billion in “bottlenecked taxpayer funds.” He also condemned what he called “a vicious cycle of hospitalization and incarceration for unhoused Angelenos facing mental illness and addiction.”
City News Service
