Current results from the Los Angeles city primary elections are rendering hope, and disappointment, for Korean American candidates in the race.
On the one hand, there’s much hope for David Ryu, who is running for a seat in the city council from District 4. As of 11:35 A.M. on March 4, Ryu has received 2,776 votes, 14.61 percent of the total amount of votes counted. This makes him the candidate with the second highest amount of votes after Carolyn Ramsay, who has received 2,911 votes (15.32 percent of total votes). Tomas O’Grady is not far behind Ryu, who has 2,715 votes (14.29 percent) thus far. If Ryu maintains a position as one of the top two candidates, he will be entered into the runoff election on May 19.
On the other hand, Grace Yoo, who has been vying for a seat in District 10, has received many more votes than Ryu thus far—3,266 votes (29.51 percent of total)—but, unlike Ryu who is running against 13 other candidates, Yoo is only running against two others: incumbent Herb Wesson, Yoo, and Delaney Smith. Wesson took up 63.45 percent of the total votes, with 7,022 votes, securing his position in District 10. Any candidate with 50 percent or more of the votes immediately wins the position.
Yoo expressed thanks to voters who participated in the primaries, and said that her relatively later entrance into the electoral race may have been one of the facts that affected the votes.
Yoo said that she plans on running for the position again in five years.
