Several AAPI candidates were on the ballot in local races during the June 2 primary.
Los Angeles County
Assessor: Among five candidates, incumbent Jeffrey Prang led with 1,026,938 votes (57.74%). Sandy Sun was in second place with 271,992 (15.29%). Sun is a deputy assessor with 26 years of experience in the Assessor’s Office.
Superior Court Judge, Office 14: Irene Lee led with 962,723 votes (56.91%) to Angie Christides’ 728,936 (43.09%). Lee is a special assistant to the Los Angeles County district attorney and previously served as deputy county counsel.
Superior Court Judge, Office 39: Binh Q. Dang ran unopposed, receiving 1,390,965 votes. Dang is a deputy public defender.
Los Angeles Mayor: The November runoff will be between incumbent Karen Bass, who received 292,115 votes (34.27%), and City Councilmember Nithya Raman, who received 247,242 (29.01%), with reality TV personality Spencer Pratt, who was endorsed by President Trump, in third place with 217,638 (25.53%). Raman, who represents the 4th District, was elected in 2020, defeating incumbent David Ryu, and re-elected in 2024. Born in India, she could become the city’s first Asian American mayor.
Among the 14 candidates were Rae Chen Huang, deputy director of Housing Now California, in fifth place (25,163 votes, 2.95%); Andrew Kim, a civil rights attorney, in seventh place (6,975, 0.82%); Suzy Kim, a clinician with the L.A. County Department of Mental Health, in eighth place (6,039, 0.71%); Nelson Cheng, a Roblox YouTuber, in last place (876, 0.1%).
Los Angeles City Attorney: Deputy Attorney General Marissa Roy of the California Department of Justice was in first place with 320,139 votes (43.12%), followed by prosecutor John McKinney with 212,421 (28.61%), incumbent Hydee Feldstein Soto with 133,574 (17.99%) and human rights lawyer Aida Ashouri with 76,389 (10.29%). Roy is a past board member of Asian Democrats of L.A. County.
Los Angeles Controller: Incumbent Kenneth Mejia had a substantial lead, 472,319 votes (63.01%), to Zach Sokoloff’s 277,284 (36.99%). Mejia, a CPA, was first elected in 2022, becoming the first Asian American to hold citywide elected office in Los Angeles. Sokoloff is a senior vice president for asset management at Hackman Capital Partners.
Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education, District 4: Incumbent Nick Melvoin was ahead with 104,034 votes (61.59%) to challenger Ankur Patel’s 64,879 (38.41%). Patel is outreach director for Hindu University of America and worked for school board member Scott Schmerelson.
Long Beach City Council, District 1: Incumbent Mary Zendejas led with 3,662 votes (50.25%), followed by restaurant manager Anthony Bryson with 1,293 (17.74%), Deb Kahookele with 934 (12.82%) and three other candidates. Kahookele has been a leader with the Promenade Area Residents Association, Long Beach Pride and Long Beach Rotary.
Long Beach Unified School District Governing Board, District 5: Incumbent Diana Craighead was on top with 16,642 votes (55.12%), followed by charter school teacher Maureen Flaherty with 9,989 (33.08%) and grassroots organizer Sara Socheata Pol-Lim with 3,561 (11.79%). A key member in the making of the Cambodian American community in Long Beach, Pol-Lim is the author of “Coming to Terms with Historical Trauma.”
Note: Results for Gardena and Torrance were reported in a separate article.
Orange County
Superintendent of Schools: Incumbent Stefan Nam Bean ran unopposed and received 517,373 votes. Appointed in 2024 by the Orange County Board of Educaiton, Bean previously served as executive director of the Irvine International Academy and superintendent of Aspire Public Schools in Los Angeles.
Assessor: Incumbent Claude Parrish led with 475,912 votes (73.31%) to Janet Keo Conklin’s 173,301 (26.69%). Conklin, a Cambodian American, is a member of the La Palma City Council, a small business owner, a realtor and a veterans’ advocate.
Clerk-Recorder: Incumbent Hugh Nguyen had the lead with 471,416 votes (72.01%) to records data specialist Maria Holly Barraza’s 183,262 (27.99%). Nguyen has worked for Orange County for more than three decades, of which 24 years were at the Clerk-Recorder Department. Appointed clerk-recorder in 2013 and first elected in 2014, becoming the first Vietnamese American in the nation to be elected to that position, Nguyen was overwhelmingly re-elected to a third four-year term in 2022.
Board of Supervisors, District 4: The top two finishers were Buena Park Mayor Connor Traut with 37,690 votes (33.27%) and Orange County Board of Education Trustee Tim Shaw with 35,410 (31.26%), followed by La Habra Mayor Rose Espinoza with 20,238 (17.87%) and Fullerton Mayor Fred Jung with 19,934 (17.6%). First elected to the City Council in 2020, Jung was re-elected to a four-year term representing District 1 in 2024. He is the first Asian American member of the City Council in over 20 years.
The post is currently held by Doug Chafee, who is termed out. The district includes Fullerton, Buena Park, La Habra, Brea, Placentia, Stanton, and portions of Anaheim.