L.A. mayoral race goes to June 5 runoff

City Attorney James Hahn, left, and Antonio Villaraigosa, a former state assembly speaker, will go head to head in a runoff vote in June.

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- The race for mayor of Los Angeles will have to be decided in an early June runoff, after none of the 15 candidates in Tuesday's primary secured at least 50 percent of the vote.

Former state Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa was the front-runner, taking about 30 percent of the vote.

"The great city of the 21st century is a great city because we come from every corner of the Earth for a piece of that American dream," Villaraigosa said.

If he wins the June 5 runoff, Villaraigosa would be the city's first Hispanic mayor in more than 100 years.

VIDEO The race pits an Anglo with strong black support against a popular Latino. CNN's Charles Feldman reports Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) Outgoing Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan talks with CNN's Charles Feldman about his tenure Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)     CAMPAIGN SITES Antonio Villaraigosa Steve Soboroff Jim Hahn Joel Wachs Xavier Becerra Francis DellaVecchia

Villaraigosa's runoff opponent will be City Attorney James Hahn, who came in second with about 25 percent of the vote. Both men are Democrats.

"I feel good about it, I feel good about tonight, Hahn said early Wednesday morning. "I feel good about the challenge ahead of us. We are going to have a campaign that is going to make history in this city."

Placing third was the lone Republican in the nonpartisan primary, real estate businessman Steve Soboroff, who garnered 21 percent.

Soboroff was endorsed by outgoing two-term Republican Mayor Richard Riordan, who is being forced to leave office after eight years because of term limits.

The race indicated that a new urban politics -- liberal, partisan and multicultural -- is taking shape in Los Angeles as candidates tried to harness the power of Latinos and organized labor.

Pre-election polls indicated that Villaraigosa, Hahn and Soboroff were the likely front-runners.

Villaraigosa, 48, made a strong showing in recent days and energized voters in the city's increasingly crucial Latino community. But he also has drawn support from white liberals, Jewish voters and gays drawn to his message of inclusion.

Villaraigosa was endorsed by organized labor, environmentalists, women's rights activists and the Democratic Party. Many Jews favored Villaraigosa over two Jewish candidates, and Villaraigosa gained the favor of many gays, even though another candidate was openly gay.

"I believe that the next mayor of this city has to open up this city," he said. "I believe that the next mayor of this city has to include every single one of us."

The 50-year-old Hahn is the son of a legendary Los Angeles supervisor fondly remembered by the city's African-American community. His support comes mostly from blacks and white liberals -- the same coalition that kept former Mayor Tom Bradley in office for two decades.

Soboroff, 52, drew support from moderate and conservative white voters. As was Riordan's case, he has not held elected office before running for mayor.

The race tightened and got uglier in the last weekend before the vote as candidates complained about each other's tactics. Soboroff and Riordan condemned a series of phone calls to residents that claimed to be on Soboroff's behalf and said his campaign had "become entirely dependent upon Jewish money."

Soboroff called for an investigation, and Riordan called the calls the work of "vicious cowards." Hahn, meanwhile, publicly asked an Indian group to stop radio ads attacking Villaraigosa.

The campaign also became more expensive than any previous contest, as money poured into the race from labor unions and both political parties outside Los Angeles.

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City of Los Angeles
  • Los Angeles Mayor's Office
California State Controller's Office: Kathleen Connell

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