2001 Los Angeles mayoral election
April 10, 2001 (2001-04-10) (primary)
June 5, 2001 (2001-06-05) (runoff)
Turnout37.67%
 
Candidate James Hahn Antonio Villaraigosa Steve Soboroff
First round 125,139
25.05%		 152,031
30.43%		 106,189
21.25%
Runoff 304,791
53.53%		 264,611
46.47%		 Eliminated
 
Candidate Joel Wachs Xavier Becerra
First round 55,016
11.01%		 29,851
5.97%
Runoff Eliminated Eliminated
Mayor before election

Richard Riordan

 Elected Mayor

James Hahn

The 2001 election for Mayor of Los Angeles took place on April 10, 2001, with a run-off election on June 5, 2001. Incumbent mayor Richard Riordan was prevented from running for a third term because of term limits. In the election to replace him, then-City Attorney James Hahn defeated Antonio Villaraigosa, the former speaker of the California State Assembly.

Municipal elections in California, including Mayor of Los Angeles, are officially nonpartisan; candidates' party affiliations do not appear on the ballot.[1]

Results

Primary election

The primary election for Mayor was held on April 10, 2001. Villaraigosa finished first, with 30 percent of the vote. Hahn was second with 25 percent of the vote. City elections in Los Angeles are nonpartisan; the top two vote-getters advance to the runoff if no contender reaches 50 percent.

Riordan had endorsed his Senior Advisor and Parks Commissioner, businessman Steve Soboroff, to replace him. Soboroff, the only prominent Republican in the race, finished third with 21 percent of the vote. Also competing in the primary election were longtime Los Angeles City Council member Joel Wachs, United States Representative Xavier Becerra, and then-California State Controller Kathleen Connell. They finished with 11, 6 and 5 percent of the vote, respectively.

The Los Angeles Times made a dual endorsement of Hahn and Villaraigosa in the primary election, while the City's other daily newspapers, The Los Angeles Daily News and The Daily Breeze endorsed Soboroff.

The mayoral campaign of Xavier Becerra ran a tape of someone impersonating Gloria Molina disparaging the voting record of mayoral candidate Antonio Villaraigosa.[2] The tape was run by campaign staffer Lloyd Monserratt, and though no laws had been broken, this action tarnished the reputations of all involved.[3][4]

Los Angeles mayoral primary election, April 10, 2001[5]
Candidate Votes  %
Antonio Villaraigosa 152,031 30.43
James Hahn 125,139 25.05
Steve Soboroff 106,189 21.25
Joel Wachs 55,016 11.01
Xavier Becerra 29,851 5.97
Kathleen Connell 24,062 4.82
Francis Dellavecchia 1,769 0.35
Martin Luther King Aubrey, Sr. 965 0.19
Melrose Larry Green 860 0.17
Wendy Lyons 813 0.16
Rob Black 789 0.16
Bob Tur 656 0.13
Joe Shea 645 0.13
Addie Mae Miller 540 0.11
Steve Mozena 316 0.06
Total votes 499,641 100.00

General election

Riordan switched his endorsement to Villaraigosa in the general election. Despite the popular Republican Mayor's endorsement, as well as the endorsement of the Los Angeles Times, Villaraigosa was unable to capture a majority. Hahn won the general election on June 5, 2001 with 53.53 percent of the vote, to Villaraigosa's 46.47 percent.

Soboroff and Becerra remained neutral in the general election. Wachs endorsed Villaraigosa.

Los Angeles mayoral general election, June 5, 2001[6]
Candidate Votes  %
James Hahn 304,791 53.53
Antonio Villaraigosa 264,611 46.47
Total votes 569,402 100.00

Further information

Hahn was sworn in as Los Angeles' 40th mayor in the summer of 2001. Hahn faced Villaraigosa in a runoff rematch in the 2005 Los Angeles Mayoral election. In that race, Villaraigosa defeated Hahn to become the 41st mayor of Los Angeles.

Soboroff would go on to become a Senior Fellow at UCLA and to the head of the Playa Vista development on Los Angeles' Westside, while Wachs became president of the Andy Warhol Foundation in New York City and Connell was termed out of her post as State Controller. Becerra remained a member of the United States Congress until his appointment to succeed Senator Kamala Harris as Attorney General of California in 2017.

References and footnotes

  1. ↑ "LOS ANGELES: STRUCTURE OF A CITY GOVERNMENT" (PDF). League of Women Voters.
  2. ↑ Krikorian, Nicholas; Riccardi, Greg (May 23, 2001). "D.A. Traces Bogus Calls to Firm Tied to Becerra". Los Angeles Times.
  3. ↑ Haefele, Mark (May 30, 2001). "The New Alignment". LA Weekly.
  4. ↑ Zahniser, David (March 8, 2006). "Pocket of Trouble". LA Weekly. Archived from the original on January 8, 2018.
  5. ↑ "City of Los Angeles Primary Municipal Elections Official Election Results April 10, 2001" (PDF). Office of the City Clerk, City of Los Angeles. April 20, 2001. p. 2.
  6. ↑ "City of Los Angeles General Municipal & Consolidated Elections Official Election Results June 5, 2001" (PDF). Office of the City Clerk, City of Los Angeles. June 16, 2001. p. 2.
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