[dropcap size=big]L[/dropcap]os Angeles County voters have removed Sheriff Jim McDonnell from office, electing former deputy Alex Villanueva in a startling upset that could upend the dynamics of power between local political leaders and the largest sheriff’s department in the country.
Villanueva leads by a slim margin of 50.15 percent over 49.85 percent of the vote — or a difference of 4,927 votes, with 100 percent of precincts reporting. The results, though not fully certified, offer multiple firsts.
Villanueva is to become the first partisan Democrat elected L.A. sheriff and the first Spanish-fluent sheriff since 1890, while McDonnell would become the first elected sheriff unseated in Los Angeles in a century. McDonnell, who spent nearly 30 years in the LAPD in every rank but chief, did not make any statements on social platforms through the afternoon.
[Update, 9:32 pm: Thousands of provisional ballots are still being counted, but an LAT analysis of results so far show Villanueva garnering strong support in heavily Latino areas of the county, as well as winning in precincts that McDonnell won in the primary, including West Hollywood, which is policed by the Sheriff's Department.]