RANCHO PALOS VERDES, CA — John Cruikshank led the race for three seats on the Rancho Palos Verdes City Council late Tuesday night, while voters appeared to be overwhelmingly supporting a hotel tax increase intended to fund public safety and municipal services.
Returns released at 9:44 p.m. by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk's Office showed Cruikshank with 6,586 votes, or 26%, followed by David Chura with 5,163 votes, or 20.4%, and Matthew Brach with 3,996 votes, or 15.8%.
Tina Funiciello was fourth with 3,863 votes, trailing Brach by just 133 votes in the contest for the third council seat.
Measure RS, which would increase the city's hotel tax from 10% to 13%, was supported by 75.7% of voters, with 8,820 votes in favor and 2,831 against.
In the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District board race, Jeremy Vanderhal led with 9,724 votes, followed by Allyson Lehrer with 8,715 and Louis Matthew Harley with 6,936. Liz Peterson was fourth with 6,124 votes.
Meanwhile, Beth K. Whittenbury, Jonathan Beutler and Maria D. Villa Lathrop led the race for three Palos Verdes Library District trustee seats.
In neighboring Palos Verdes Estates, Michael Kemps, Mark Saroyan and Victoria A. Lozzi were the three candidates for three City Council seats, while Measure PVE, a proposed tax to support law enforcement services and pension obligations, had received 66.9% support, narrowly exceeding the two-thirds threshold required for passage.
Scroll down for real-time Rancho Palos Verdes and Los Angeles County election results.
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Three seats were at stake on the five-member Rancho Palos Verdes City Council, with six candidates seeking four-year terms.
According to the city's official candidate list, the candidates appeared on the ballot in the following order:
None of the incumbents sought reelection, ensuring the incoming council will include three new members as the city continues responding to the Portuguese Bend landslide complex, which has disrupted roads and utilities, damaged properties and required extensive emergency work.
The next council will inherit decisions involving landslide mitigation, disaster preparedness, infrastructure repairs and the city's long-term financial stability, including how to balance the costs of the ongoing emergency against other municipal priorities.
Council members serve four-year terms, while the mayor is selected by the council on a rotating basis rather than elected separately by voters.
The city has published candidate information, campaign filings and recorded forums on its official election website.
Rancho Palos Verdes voters also decided Measure RS, the city's Public Safety/City Services Measure, which would increase the transient occupancy tax on hotel and motel stays from 10% to 13%.
The proposal comes as the city continues absorbing substantial costs associated with the Portuguese Bend landslide complex while preparing for future natural disasters and maintaining essential infrastructure.
According to city officials, Rancho Palos Verdes projects that it will have spent approximately $75 million of its own funds on landslide response over the three-and-a-half-year period ending in June 2027, underscoring the financial pressures confronting the municipality.
Measure RS would generate an estimated $2.2 million annually for general municipal services, with potential uses including wildfire and disaster preparedness, road and storm drain maintenance, landslide response, public safety and other city operations.
A yes vote would increase the hotel and motel tax to 13%, while a no vote would leave the existing 10% rate unchanged.
The measure would remain in effect until ended by voters and includes requirements for public spending disclosures and independent annual financial and performance audits.
Revenue would remain under local control, although the money would not be restricted exclusively to landslide mitigation or any single municipal service.
The City Council unanimously placed the measure on the ballot in July and subsequently voted to support it.
Residents can review the city's official Measure RS information, ballot language and supporting documents.
Five candidates competed for three seats on the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District Board of Education, which oversees district policy, budgets, educational priorities and the selection and evaluation of the superintendent.
The candidates were Louis Matthew Harley, Liz Peterson, Allyson Lehrer, Jeremy Vanderhal and Paul Vidal.
The election will determine the composition of the school board as the district addresses its educational priorities and financial responsibilities.
Rancho Palos Verdes voters also participated in congressional and state legislative elections, including contests to replace two South Bay lawmakers.
In the 36th Congressional District, incumbent Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu faced Republican Houston Brignano. The district includes Rancho Palos Verdes and other South Bay and Westside communities.
In California's 24th State Senate District, Democrats John M. Erickson and Brian Goldsmith competed to succeed state Sen. Ben Allen, who is running for California insurance commissioner.
Meanwhile, in the 66th Assembly District, Democrats Paul Seo and Sara Deen faced one another for the seat being vacated by term-limited Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi.
Seo, the mayor of Rancho Palos Verdes, and Deen, a Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District board member, competed to represent a district encompassing several South Bay communities.
Across Los Angeles County, incumbent Sheriff Robert Luna faced former Sheriff Alex Villanueva in a rematch of their 2022 election, when Luna defeated Villanueva to become sheriff.
County voters also considered two proposed charter amendments involving public safety labor disputes and government ethics.
Measure A proposed establishing binding arbitration for certain labor disputes involving county public safety employees, including firefighters and sheriff's personnel, while prohibiting strikes by specified workers such as district attorney investigators, medical examiner employees and lifeguards.
Measure E sought to strengthen the independence and structure of the Los Angeles County Ethics Commission and related oversight offices, addressing appointment procedures, qualifications, responsibilities and other administrative requirements.
Both measures required a simple majority for approval.
Review Los Angeles County's official election information.
Although polls closed at 8 p.m. Tuesday, the first reported totals will not necessarily determine the final outcomes, particularly in closely contested local races.
Los Angeles County election officials must continue processing eligible ballots after Election Day, including vote-by-mail ballots postmarked by Nov. 3 and received by Nov. 10.
The results reported on election night are preliminary, and additional ballots may change the standings before the election is certified.
Voters can track their ballots through California's BallotTrax system or follow the latest official Los Angeles County election results.
The governor's race was somewhat anticlimactic following a chaotic primary with a crowded field of candidates roiled when the frontrunner was forced to step down amid sexual assault allegations. Since then, Becerra maintained a steady lead over Hilton in the polls.
In the final days of the election, a new SurveyUSA poll showed Becerra with a 22-point lead.
Click here for real-time results in the California Governor's races.
All 52 of California's Congressional seats were on the ballot.
Congressional races across California were under intense scrutiny following voter approval of Proposition 50, a partisan redistricting measure expected to reshape the state's political map. Thanks to the redistricting, only a handful of districts were truly competitive. Democrats hoped to flip as many as five Republican House seats in a bid to overturn the GOP's slim House majority.
Democrats think they can flip as many as five seats, with four seeming very much in reach, according to the polls. Both parties are spending like control of the House is on the line.
Click here for real-time results in California's Congressional races.
There were 14 statewide propositions on the ballot this week. Arguably, the most hot-button ballot initiatives involve taxation. Proposition 40 is the highly discussed billionaire tax, while Propositions 41 and 42 aim to counter the measure. Proposition 3 also addresses taxes on the state's highest earners.
Click here for real-time results for all of California's ballot measures.
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