The November election for nonpartisan Los Angeles County sheriff is now being split among party lines, with Democrats falling in line with local politicians who have favored defunding the police and lower incarceration levels.
Both candidates are Democrats, but Republicans favor Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who has battled with county lawmakers over cuts to his department and a lack of jail funding. The challenger is Robert Luna, a retired Long Beach police chief, with a host of political endorsements.
A Los Angeles Times poll shows Luna at 31% with 27% for Villanueva in a county that is mostly Democratic. Split along party lines, 40% of Democrats want Luna, while 33% of Republicans support Villanueva, and 44% are undecided.
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The two men recently had a debate in which Villanueva focused on crime while Luna repeatedly mentioned that he would be a sheriff who could work with other elected officials.
Villanueva has been an outspoken victims’ rights advocate during his tenure, publicizing his dislike for state laws that have softened punishment for criminals and efforts by District Attorney George Gascon to abdicate prosecuting many of them. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has largely backed Gascon, with Chairwoman Holly Mitchell listed on his campaign page as a supporter.
The board voted in July to place a measure on the ballot that allows lawmakers to remove the sheriff for malfeasance, even though that office is for an elected official.
“I was never going to be part of that group — never,” Villanueva told the Washington Examiner at the time. “They want to disenfranchise the voter who put me in office, trying to take away the voter’s will.”
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Luna was previously a Republican but became a Democrat in 2020. He is largely unknown to county voters, 59% saying they have no opinion. That is in contrast to 31% for Villanueva.
The poll was conducted on Aug. 9 among 4,538 county voters.
