Defenders of Justice Headed To November Run-offs

All three public defenders running for judicial office on the Defenders of Justice slate are headed to top-two runoff elections in November, following updates from the County Registrar on Tuesday, March 19, fewer than 5,000 ballots uncounted and just three more updates before results are final.

George Turner has pulled ahead in a once tight 3-person race for Court Office No. 39, with 32.84% of the vote, more than 5 points ahead of third-place candidate Jacob Lee, who held a slight lead over Turner on election night. With 423,383 votes he leads second place candidate Steve Napolitano by 54,428 votes, or 4.22%. Ronda Dixon is a distant fourth with 11.38% of the vote.

Ericka Wiley leads Renee Rose by more than 45,000 votes in a two-person race for Court Office No. 48. Wiley has 596,424 votes for 47.36% to Rose’s 549,547 votes for 43.64%. Malik Burroughs is a distant third with 9.00% of the vote.

La Shae Henderson is in second place for Court Office No. 97, but leads third-place candidate Sam Abourched by 3.06% and 38,159 votes. She looks to face the toughest challenge in November, as Sharon Ransom leads with 602,968 votes, 48.33% to Henderson’s 341,363 votes, 27.36%.

Another public defender, Kim Repecka won her race outright for Court Office No. 124 with 51.45% of the vote to 48.55% for incumbent Emily Spear, “who has the rare dishonor of being publicly admonished by the California Commission on Judicial Performance,” as noted by Knock LA.

But Seat public defender Rhonda Haymon failed to unseat incumbent Lynn Olson for Court Office No. 12, garnering 35.96% of the vote to Olson’s 64.04%.