Wednesday, November 9, 2011

L.A. City Council race: Buscaino and Furutani headed for runoff

A special visitor showed up at Joe Buscaino’s celebratory election-night party in San Pedro. It was Rep. Janice Hahn, the former Los Angeles councilwoman whose 15th district council seat Buscaino is hoping to win in a runoff election in January.

“You’re going to go all the way,” Hahn told Buscaino, before posing with him for pictures.

Buscaino, a police officer with no political experience, is headed for a runoff with Assemblyman Warren Furutani (D-Gardena), according to vote returns.

With 100% of precincts reporting just before midnight Tuesday, Buscaino had captured 27.1% of the vote and Furutrani had 22.3%

The pair were trailed by a tight pack of three other candidates: businessman Jayme Wilson (with 12% of the vote), firefighter Pat McOsker (9.9%) and former City Councilman Rudy Svorinich Jr. (9.1%).

Nearly $2 million was spent in the race, which kicked off just three months ago after Hahn was elected to Congress in July.

The wine-bottle shaped 15th district takes in San Pedro, Wilmington, Harbor City and Watts. Furutani, whose campaign focused on voters outside of San Pedro, celebrated his spot in the runoff at a party at his campaign headquarters in Wilmington.

He said his effort to focus on voters who are sometimes overlooked in elections “proved to be a really good strategy.”

He will face off against Buscaino in a runoff Jan. 17.

-- Kate Linthicum and Ricardo Lopez

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