Robert García, the first Latino and the youngest person to occupy a position in the city council of Long Beach, California, is in the lead with 27.7% of votes in the primary elections for the city's mayor, according to the first results.
As Los Angeles Times reported this morning, with around 12,000 votes through mail, real-estate investor Damon Dunn is still in second place with 21.1% of votes, while Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal, who has the support of Governor Jerry Brown, is in third place with 18.7%.
If these results are confirmed, Robert García would become the first Latino immigrant and the first openly homosexual person to occupy the position of mayor in Long Beach.
According to the quoted newspaper, García has the support of the incumbent mayor, Bob Foster, who announced late last year that he would not run for a third term.
With 285,000 voters, the secretary's office estimates that only 25% or 30% of registered voters actually will vote to choose the next mayor.
The second vote, programmed for June 3, might have some surprises since with 25.5% of votes, García is still well below the 50% mark necessary to directly win the elections, reported the Press-Telegram.
The city of Long Beach is the seventh biggest in California, with around 462,000 residents, 42% of them Latinos; however, only about 40,500 people voted to choose a new mayor, according to 89.3 KPCC.
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