BY ARA KHACHATOURIAN

According to preliminary results published by various county and state agencies, as well as the Los Angeles Times, 33 of the 36 candidates endorsed by the Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region either won or advanced to the next stage in their Congressional, state and local government races in Tuesday’s California primary elections.

In the congressional races, the only non-incumbent ANCA-WR-endorsed candidate Christy Smith, who is vying to fill the vacant seat in the 25th Congressional district, led the vote and will face off against Republican challenger Mike Garcia in a special election in May to finish the term of Katie Hill who resigned last fall. The two will face off in the general elections in November. The anti-Armenian self-proclaimed progressive Cenk Uygur, who runs “The Young Turks” media outlet, lost his bid, with preliminary results indicating that he garnered slightly over five percent of the votes.

All ANCA-WR-endorsed candidates for the California State Senate and Assembly advanced to the November elections.

Katheryn Barger, the Los Angeles County Supervisor from the 5th district, handily won her re-election bid. Based on preliminary results, ANCA-WR-endorsed incumbent Los Angeles City Council candidates Paul Krekorian and John Lee won their races, while David Ryu was leading his race for reelection. First-time city council candidate Kevin de Leon, won his race in the 14th council district. At press time George Gascon was trailing in his bid to unseat Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey. Jackie Goldberg, who was running for reelection in the Los Angeles School Board in her 5th district seemed poised to continue to a full term, according to preliminary results, which also indicated that Scott Schmerelson was leading in the race in the 3rd LAUSD district.

“ANCA Western Region has always been actively engaged in electoral processes, ensuring that our community’s collective voice is heard loud and clear throughout the western U.S.,” said the organization’s Chair Nora Hovsepian, Esq.

“Through our endorsement process and the ongoing HyeVotes initiative, we’re proud to have once again ensured a high level of engagement and participation from our community irrespective of political and party affiliations. We congratulate all of our endorsed candidates and look forward to continuing to build on our relationships moving forward as we seek ways to advance the Armenian Cause together,” added Hovsepian.

Also winning her bid for the Los Angeles County Democratic Party Central Committee was Elen Asatryan, who among the multiple races in Tuesday elections ran a well-oiled and impressive campaign.

In other education-centric races, ANCA-WR-endorsed candidates Nyiri Nahabedian and Jennifer Freemon won their bids for the Glendale Unified School District seats. Harry Leon and Sevan Benlian also won their races for the Glendale City College board races.

Ahead of the vote, the ANCA Glendale chapter endorsed four candidates in the three-slot race for Glendale City Council. Of the four, Ardy Kassakhian and Paula Devine were the two top vote getters in Tuesday’s race. Preliminary results indicate that incumbent Vartan Gharpetian was unsuccessful in his bid, as was first-time candidate Leonard Manoukian. Candidate Dan Brotman looks poised to take the third open city council seat.

Over in Pasadena, the ANCA Pasadena-endorsed candidates Boghos Patatian and Joe Baghdadlian were unsuccessful in their run for city council. However, Tyron Hampton and Steve Madison, both endorsed by ANCA Pasadena won their races.

As many state and local officials said before Tuesday’s election, final results will be released when all votes have been counted.

Below is an overview of how ANCA-WR-endorsed candidates fared in Tuesday’s vote.

House of Representatives
Judy Chu – CA Congressional 27th District – Advanced to General Elections
Jim Costa – CA Congressional 16th District – Advanced to General Elections
Anna Eshoo – CA Congressional 18th District – Advanced to General Elections
Ted Lieu – CA Congressional 33rd District – Advanced to General Elections
Linda Sanchez – CA Congressional 38th District – Advanced to General Elections
Adam Schiff – CA Congressional 28th District – Advanced to General Elections
Brad Sherman – CA Congressional 30th District – Advanced to General Elections
Christy Smith – CA Congressional 25th District – Advanced to General Elections
Jackie Speier – CA Congressional 14th District – Advanced to General Elections

State Senate
Toni Atkins – 39th District – Elected (Running unopposed)
Anthony Portantino – 25th District -Elected (Running unopposed)
Henry Stern – 27th District – Advanced to General Elections
Scott Wiener – 11th District – Advanced to General Elections
Scott Wilk – 21st District – Advanced to General Elections

State Assembly
Marc Berman – 24th District – Advanced to General Elections
Lisa Calderon – 57th District – Advanced to General Elections
Laura Friedman – 43rd District – Advanced to General Elections
Jesse Gabriel – 45th District- Elected (Running unopposed)
Chris Holden – 41st District – Advanced to General Elections
Adrin Nazarian – 46th District – Advanced to General Elections
Jim Patterson – 23rd District – Elected (Running unopposed)
Sharon Quirk-Silva – 65th District – Advanced to General Elections
Anthony Rendon – 63rd District – Advanced to General Elections
Luz Rivas – 39th District – Advanced to General Elections

County Races
Kathryn Barger – LA County Board of Supervisors 5th District – Elected
George Gascon – LA County District Attorney – Not Elected
Elen Asatryan – Democratic County Central Committee – Elected
Ingrid Gunnell – Democratic County Central Committee – Not Elected
Malcolm Johnson – Democratic County Central Committee – Not Elected

City Races
Kevin De Leon – Los Angeles City Council 14th District – Elected
Paul Krekorian – Los Angeles City Council 2nd District – Elected
John Lee – Los Angeles City Council 12th District – Elected
David Ryu – Los Angeles City Council 4th District – Leading
Paula Devine – Glendale City Council – Elected
Vartan Gharpetian – Glendale City Council – Not Elected
Ardy Kassakhian – Glendale City Council – Elected
Leonard Manoukian – Glendale City Council – Not Elected
Terry Tornek – Pasadena City Mayor – Trailing
Joe Baghdadlian – Pasadena City Council 4th District – Not Elected
Tyron Hampton – Pasadena City Council 1st District – Elected
Steve Madison – Pasadena City Council 6th District – Elected
Boghos Patatian – Pasadena City Council 2nd District – Not Elected

Education Races
Sevan Benlian – Glendale Community College Board of Trustees – Elected
Harry Leon – Glendale Community College Board of Trustees – Elected
Jennifer Freemon – Glendale Unified School District – Elected
Nayiri Nahabedian – Glendale Unified School District – Elected
Jackie Goldberg – Los Angeles Unified School District Board- Elected
Scott Schmerelson – Los Angeles Unified School District Board- Elected
James Osterling – Pasadena City College Board of Trustees 2nd Area – Elected