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WESTSIDE - LA Councilwoman Traci Park (CD-11) cruised to a 2-1 landslide win Tuesday night over civil rights attorney Faizah Malik, the Democratic Socialist and fellow Venetian.
Park, who met with supporters at a beachfront venue, declared victory and described her win as a mandate of her quality-of-life concerns as well as a victory for "common sense" solutions over ideology.
Surrounded by hundreds, Park received 65.33% of the vote, a 17-point increase from her victory four years ago over fellow attorney and Venetian, Erin Darling.
The raw total was Park 33,205 to Malik's 17,619 as of this writing.
There were clear similarities in this year's blowout win and her victory in 2022.
The major difference being the size and scope of her impressive win, and an obvious mandate to continue to battle this scourge of homelessness on the streets of Los Angeles.
Having run twice against fellow residents of Venice who were both attorneys, the Park message of a comeback story of sorts resonated with Venice as well as the rest of the district. Park's team ran a focused and disciplined effort, plastering hundreds, if not thousands of signs throughout the district. Here in Venice, Park had 10 signs for one for Malik.
It was a classic victory lap for the incumbent, rarely engaging Malik and sticking to the core message that got her elected, as Malik struggled to formulate a clear or coherent reason why Park should not continue to represent CD-11.
Park now has established herself as a political force to be dealt with as council incumbents all were reelected by comfortable margins.
While LA Mayor Karen Bass has clinched a spot in the runoff with 34.7% of the vote, it is unclear if she will face reality star Spencer Pratt or Councilwoman Nithya Raman who currently trails Pratt.
While Park did not endorse in the race for mayor, she does enjoy a productive and respectful relationship with the incumbent.
It will be interesting to see if she decides to endorse once the field is set, but If Raman advances, an endorsement is highly unlikely of her DSA council colleague.
In the race for City Attorney, Park was supportive of incumbent Hydee Feldstein-Soto, who looks like she is out of the money for reelection, receiving just 19.5% of the vote. DSA challenger Marissa Roy currently leads law and order Deputy District Attorney John McKinney by a vote of 162,188 (37%) to 142,401 (32%).
It seems probable that Park would prefer McKinney, the head of Specialized Prosecutions under Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman, who Park endorsed in his race against leftist George Gascon.
For Park, who has been laser focused on the quality-of-life issues like homeless encampments, illegal RV dwellings, and strong support of first responders, cobbled together a unique political coalition far beyond traditional party labels or philosophies. For this notion of applying "common sense" to fixing problems might be something others in politics should emulate, replicate and copy.
As iconic Chicago Mayor Richard Daley used to say, "good government is good politics."
(Nick Antonicello is a thirty-three-year resident of Venice who covered the race for council in CD-11. A regular contributor to City Watch LA, he can be reached via e-mail at [email protected])
