Los Angeles, California: Two City Council Races Remain Too Close to Call as Gaspar Leads by 294 Votes

The races for the two open seats on the Los Angeles City Council remained too close to call on Thursday, November 5, 2026, as Los Angeles County officials kept counting ballots from the Tuesday election. In District 3, businessman Tim Gaspar held a lead of 294 votes over Barri Worth Girvan. In District 9, Jose Ugarte remained ahead of Estuardo Mazariegos, but his lead had narrowed to 1,898 votes.

District 3 is separated by 294 votes

As of Wednesday afternoon, Gaspar led with 26,322 votes, or 50.28 percent, while Worth Girvan had 26,028 votes, or 49.72 percent, according to results released by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk. The two are seeking to represent the district that includes Tarzana, Woodland Hills, Canoga Park, Reseda and Winnetka. The seat is open because Councilmember Bob Blumenfield was termed out. Worth Girvan has worked for a series of elected officials, including most recently Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath.

District 9 carries a historic first

Ugarte, a former deputy chief of staff to Councilmember Curren Price, had 13,929 votes, or 53.66 percent, to 12,031 votes, or 46.34 percent, for Mazariegos, a co-director of the Los Angeles chapter of the nonprofit Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, according to results released Wednesday afternoon by the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk. The two are vying to succeed Price, who was termed out, in Council District 9, which stretches from downtown Los Angeles to South Los Angeles. The winner will be the first Latino to represent the district since Edward Roybal resigned in 1962 to take a seat in the House. Every council member to represent the district since then has been Black.

Counting continues across the county

It was unclear how many ballots remained to be counted in the two races. According to the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, an estimated 842,000 ballots from Tuesday's election remain to be tallied countywide, and it is unknown how many of those are from the city of Los Angeles. With that many ballots still outstanding, both council races could still move as the count continues through the week. The unsettled council races stood in contrast to the city attorney contest on the same ballot, where Marissa Roy scored a resounding victory, MyNewsLA reported.