Showdown in the 33rd: Republican Elan Carr and Democrat Ted Lieu Face Runoff

Voters in a predominantly Democratic Westside-South Bay-San Fernando Valley congressional district will have a choice in November between Republican Elan Carr and state Sen. Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, to replace the retiring Rep. Henry Waxman.

Wendy Greuel, a former Los Angeles city controller who lost to Eric Garcetti in last year's race for mayor, finished third with 16.8 percent of the vote, according to semi-official results released today by the Secretary of State's Office. Lieu was second in Tuesday's election with 19 percent.

Eighteen candidates were listed on the ballot in hopes of representing the 33rd Congressional District. The district is one of the most affluent in the nation, including such areas as Santa Monica, Malibu, Bel Air, Beverly Hills and Palos Verdes.

The district is also one of the most liberal in the country -- hence the 10 Democrats in the field versus just three Republicans.

Carr, a gang prosecutor in the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, finished atop the field of candidates with 21.5 percent of the vote, but as a Republican, is expected to have a tough battle in the general election.

"We may not have had the resources our opponents had, but we had something much more important -- a strong conviction to confront Washington's broken status quo," Carr said.

Carr's chief strategist, John Thomas, credited his candidate's first- place finish to voters being "ready to embrace an alternative to the status quo."

Marianne Williamson, an author and entrepreneur who did not have a party preference listed beside her name on the ballot, was fourth with 12.9 percent of the vote.

Public radio host Matt Miller, a Democrat who worked as a budget adviser in President Bill Clinton's administration, was fifth with 12 percent. He scored the cherished endorsement of the Los Angeles Times, giving him a late- campaign boost.

Republican Lily Gilani was the only other candidate to receive more than 3 percent of the vote, finishing sixth with 7 percent.

The 74-year-old Waxman, D-Beverly Hills, has held the seat since 1975.

--City News Service