By MES Dispatch Staff
The Briefing
- Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna won a second term on Nov. 3, defeating former Sheriff Alex Villanueva, whom Luna beat four years ago, according to media projections.
- Luna is the first sheriff to win a second term in Los Angeles County since Lee Baca, who held the office from 1998 to 2014.
- Villanueva has now lost three consecutive elections, including his last two sheriff’s races and his 2024 bid for a county supervisor seat.
- All five members of the Board of Supervisors endorsed Luna; Supervisor Janice Hahn credited him with bringing transparency and accountability back to the department.
- Luna said his second-term priorities include progress on deputy gangs and deciding the future of Men’s Central Jail, which the U.S. Department of Justice announced in September it is investigating.
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna won reelection Tuesday, defeating his predecessor, Alex Villanueva, in a rematch of their 2022 contest, according to media projections reported by the Los Angeles Times.
Local television stations projected Luna’s win around 9:50 p.m. Tuesday, as supporters gathered at his campaign headquarters in Carson. He is the first sheriff in Los Angeles County to secure a second term since Lee Baca, who served from 1998 to 2014. Villanueva has now lost three consecutive elections, including his unsuccessful 2024 campaign for the county supervisor seat held by Janice Hahn, who won it outright in the primary.
Luna has said he set out to repair relationships between the department and county leaders after Villanueva’s tenure, during which the Board of Supervisors voted to investigate the department and froze millions of dollars in funding. This year, all five supervisors endorsed Luna. “Crime is down, he is bringing transparency and accountability back to the department, and he is working closely with me and my colleagues on the Board of Supervisors,” Hahn said in a statement.
Luna said late Tuesday that his second-term priorities include making more progress on deputy gangs and determining what to do with Men’s Central Jail. The U.S. Department of Justice announced in September that it is investigating conditions at the facility, which has faced years of overcrowding and violence. Luna has said he would like to see the aging jail closed if it is first replaced with a modern facility that provides clinical care to inmates.
The sheriff also said he will watch how this week’s midterm election results could affect immigration enforcement and other federal initiatives with local implications. He said he plans to reconvene his leadership team, continue what has worked and reexamine what has not. His new term will run through the 2028 Summer Olympics.