Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, the lone representative of law and order in an otherwise “woke” local government, conceded Tuesday to establishment favorite Robert Luna, former police chief of Long Beach.
As the Los Angeles Times notes, Villanueva lost by some 20 points, after a campaign in which he was vilified by the media, often in racist terms. One Times columnist wrote that Villanueva exhibits the “worst” Latino “traits.”
Villanueva, a Democrat, was elected in 2018 on promises of reform. He became more conservative over time, standing up to the Black Lives Matter movement and adopting a tough stance against a rising tide of crime.
He antagonized the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, defying their orders to shut down businesses that remained open despite coronavirus restrictions, and opposing a vaccine mandate imposed upon his officers.
The Board disliked him so much that they put a referendum on the ballot, Measure A, which allows them to fire any future sheriff. The voters passed it, effectively allowing the Suprevisors to nullify a democratic election.
But residents in some Los Angeles communities loved Villanueva — particularly in those areas beset by rising homelessness. In 2021, for example, Villanueva famously cleared out a homeless encampment on Venice Beach.
Local officials fulminated that he was violating the rights of the homeless. But no one else had managed to do anything about the issue, other than express vague sentiments of empathy for the residents of the tent cities.
With Villanueva’s defeat, the left-wing Democratic Party has defended the status quo in Los Angeles, following the rejection of a recall petition against left-wing L.A. County District Attorney George Gascón earlier this year.
