Three-term City Councilman Eric Garcetti won the Los Angeles mayor's race decisively yesterday, 54 to 46 in initial returns against runoff opponent Wendy Greuel, the City Controller.
Garcetti's aggressive grassroots campaign shone on the social media front, with active Facebook organizing, "tweet banks" and highly targeted donor recruitment that helped the veteran Hollywood area lawmaker lead in recent fundraising. Garcetti raised more than $7.4 million and had $2 million on hand going into the race's final days.
Garcetti for Mayor videos with Salma Hayek and Will Farrell lit up YouTube, and popular Newark Mayor Cory Booker also campaigned with Garcetti in LA and on Twitter. Garcetti and Booker met as Rhodes Scholars in the '90s.
Leaders using NationBuilder fared well across the board in the LA runoff election. Teacher Monica Ratliff edged her school board opponent in initial returns despite being outspent 42 times over as outside groups dropped more than $2 million into the race.
In the race to succeed Garcetti in City Council District 13, his field deputy, Mitch O'Farrell, bested labor organizer John Choi. (Both candidates used NationBuilder.) And in a six-way race for the San Fernando Valley council seat vacated by Congressman Tony Cardenas, Cindy Montañez and Nury Martinez head on to a July 23 runoff.
Proposition D, a measure to regulate cannabis dispensaries and backed by United Food & Commercial Workers Local 770, won with nearly 63 percent of the vote. Two competing measures failed.
