But in recent years, he has appeared to move in a more conservative direction, publicly decrying what he has called woke-ism and calling for more right-leaning supervisors, despite both the sheriffs and supervisorial races ostensibly being nonpartisan. Among the attendees were several of Luna's former challengers in the primary election, including Eric Strong, a lieutenant with the Sheriff's Department who had campaigned on bringing greater oversight to the department. Sheriff Villanueva has just . He attended LGBTQ events and told a Feel the Bern Democratic club he wanted to see an end to the states cash bail system that keeps poor defendants behind bars. Villanueva, who had a reputation for defying police defunders and vaccine mandates, conceded to his opponent during a press . Fr nhere Informationen zur Nutzung Ihrer Daten lesen Sie bitte unsere Datenschutzerklrung und Cookie-Richtlinie. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images). ((Christina House / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)). Whether Villanueva is vulnerable depends in huge measure on who runs against him, said Jim Newton, a former Times journalist who is now a lecturer at UCLAs Luskin School of Public Affairs. or redistributed. Another blast is on the way. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times) Among likely voters,. Matt Rodriguez received 4%; Retired LASD commander Eli Vera received 4%; and coming in last was State Parole Agent April Saucedo Hood with 2% of the votes. Then Long Beach Police Chief Robert Luna speaks to members of the media as he provided an update on efforts to reduce gun violence on Friday, July 2, 2021. "Robert brings a good history of that type of oversight already, he said. Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva accepted defeat in his pursuit for a second four-year term in the top law enforcement spot to Robert Luna on Tuesday. Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva accepted defeat in his pursuit for a second four-year term in the top law enforcement spot to Robert Luna on Tuesday. Danielle Wallace is a reporter for Fox News Digital covering politics, crime, police and more. Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva waded into the morass of homelessness in Los Angeles this week by deploying deputies to the Venice boardwalk, a tinderbox in the citys struggle to deal with the mounting crisis. If elected, Vera said, he would stay away from the types of political clashes that have marred the current administration. After a tumultuous first term marked by his combativeness and controversies, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva's bid for reelection was at risk Wednesday morning as early results showed his opponent, Robert Luna, taking a sizable lead. When elected Sheriff four years ago, Sheriff Villanueva became the first candidate to unseat an incumbent LA Sheriff in over a century. "[17], Villanueva inherited a department that was understaffed by at least 1,300 personnel. Villanueva remained in the military, however, for another seven years, serving in the California Army National Guard from 1985 to 1992 where he was commissioned as a second lieutenant (2nd Battalion, 144th Field Artillery Regiment, 40th Infantry Division). Fox News Flash top headlines are here. [32], During his 2018 campaign, Villanueva promised to end the "pipeline to deportation" built upon the sheriff's department's cooperation and financial ties with federal immigration authorities. "Quite the opposite," he said. Luna, meanwhile, had to work to overcome his obscurity in the county, where the polls showed relatively few knew who he was. Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva meets with supporters after speaking at an election night gathering in Boyle Heights in June. That somehow cops represent an existential threat to young Black men, the sheriff said. The years of fighting with Villanueva were so contentious that the supervisors took the extraordinary step of putting the measure on Tuesday's ballot that asked voters for the power to remove a sitting sheriff from office if at least four out of the five supervisors agree he or she is unfit for office. It is about the people we serve, and we have to come up with solutions. [39][7][40], During the COVID-19 pandemic, Villanueva refused to enforce vaccine requirements for LASD staff. He defeated incumbent sheriff Jim McDonnell in the 2018 L.A. County Sheriff's race, making him the first to unseat an incumbent in over 100 years. We've received your submission. Sheriff Alex Villanueva and former Long Beach Police Chief Robert Luna vied for voters' support in their first one-on-one debate. Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva speaks at a press conference to address vaccine mandates in downtown Los Angeles on Nov. 2, 2021. While he was on patrol in the community of East Los Angeles, California, Villanueva volunteered to lead one of the first community policing teams in the nation made possible by the Community Oriented Policing (COPS) grant program launched by President Bill Clinton. Thank you, L.A. County. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Were offering L.A. Times subscribers first access to our best journalism. Listen. Villanueva suspended the department's participation in this program immediately after taking office, describing the cash payments as "blood money". Marc Brown. Whenever there was an executive meeting where decisions were made, he said, they would decide what the right thing to do was, and then figure out how to make it happen. I believe that a lot of the misconduct that occurs is untreated PTSD, Luna said. Another way he would address housing problems and homelessness, if elected, would be through the departments Civil Management Bureau, which helps with evictions. He would accomplish these goals, Luna said, by forging stronger relationships with other community players. Ultimately, 22 deputies were suspended for misconduct and four were terminated. Sie knnen Ihre Einstellungen jederzeit ndern. Karla Yesenia Carranza, who did not respond to requests for comment; April Saucedo Hood, a parole agent, who also did not respond to requests for comment; and. Sheriff Lee Baca, Undersheriff Paul Tanaka, and numerous other department employees were caught in the scandal and were later convicted of various federal charges. Theres a feeling, a sense of, Did we get a lemon? said Gonzalez, chair of the party in L.A. County. Thats just not going to happen.. He was promoted to the rank of Sergeant, where he worked Lennox and Carson Sheriff Stations, the Community College Bureau, as well as the Advanced Officer Training unit. Coming in second Tuesday was former Long Beach police Chief Robert Luna with 25%, placing the two far ahead in the nine-candidate field. He has tried to change the chemistry of his reelection by kind of adopting a sort of law-and-order posture that may get a little traction in L.A. County this coming year, said Raphe Sonenshein, head of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at Cal State L.A. Hes hoping that choice will be more attractive at a time when people are concerned about a lot of issues that are really intractable.. We have now issued more CCWs than the last three sheriffs combined, he crowed in April, when the number of permits he had issued or was close to issuing stood at 920. ALADS Board of . UPDATED, 3 PM: Embattled Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva has conceded defeat in his re-election bid against former Long . Villanueva showed up in plainclothes and took the microphone to rail against Gascns decision not to seek sentencing enhancements that lengthen a criminal defendants time behind bars. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. It wasnt until the pandemic that he banned inmate transfers to ICE altogether, unless federal agents have a warrant. [16] He describes himself as "a Democrat of the party of JFK and FDR. 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[citation needed], Numerous bodies in Los Angeles County and California have clashed with Villanueva over the accountability of the Sheriff's office. He said the reason he came to me was he needed someone who would speak truth to power, to tell him that the emperor wasnt wearing any clothes and to give their opinion, Vera said. The strategy helped Villanueva to build a powerful, if tenuous, coalition of support. Villanuevas current priorities and attitude mark a departure from how he portrayed himself three years ago, when he was campaigning for sheriff as a relatively unknown, long-shot candidate. So, get back to reporting everything, both sides, passionately, and then well be better off because of it. Things were more subdued at Villanueva's gathering in Montebello. Villanueva promoted to the rank of Lieutenant and served at the Century Regional Detention Facility, which primarily houses female inmates. But he refused to concede the idea that had got him elected: Hours before the vote, his reelection campaign sent out an email touting him as a progressive Democrat who had swept out of office a predecessor who was deporting immigrants and racially profiling drivers., And in a live social media broadcast the next day, Villanueva dismissed the county Democrats as very wealthy west side of town folks who dont represent the party or county residents. Were hiring our own sons and daughters to serve our community, he said. She said she appreciated his efforts to clean up crime and homelessness, a problem she sees every day driving through Marina del Rey. Much of what he plans to do, Luna said, would be a 180 from the current administration. Alene Tchekmedyian, James Queally, Libor Jany. Additional endorsements this month include: The International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 13 workers Union Local and the El Monte Police Officers Association. End of an era: Alex Villanueva concedes to Robert . On paper, the candidate who ran for sheriff in 2018 should have been a close ally of George Gascn, who was elected Los Angeles County district attorney late last year on promises to radically overhaul the criminal justice system. His department also previously faced criticism for using a texting app that permanently erases messages and for having a low COVID-19 vaccination rate. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Sheriff Villanueva's strong fundraising lead has come from thousands of donors across LA County. The sheriffs race is particularly difficult to handicap, given the recent scrutiny the department has faced. The partys endorsement played a large role in his long-shot election victory. Former Long Beach Police Department Chief Robert Luna won the election for Los Angeles county sheriff against incumbent Alex Villanueva. The LA County Registrar-Recorder website posted live results from the election, and as of Tuesday, Luna had received 60 percent of the vote and Villanueva had 40 percent. Its unacceptable.. And from 2016 to the end of 2021, use-of-force incidents had fallen by 27.5%, while citizen complaints had dropped 30.3%. Like Villanueva, Gascn was opposed to cash bail and wanted to restrict local cooperation with immigration agents. The Sheriffs Department said in a statement that the party had been hijacked by a radical far left agenda.. He and Villanueva had worked closely together in the past, Vera said, even consulting on his boss 2018 campaign. Klicken Sie auf Einstellungen verwalten um weitere Informationen zu erhalten und Ihre Einstellungen zu verwalten. [6], Villanueva earned an associate degree in Liberal Arts from San Bernardino Valley College in 1986 and a Bachelor of Liberal Studies from the University of the State of New York, Regents College, now known as Excelsior College. Last week, two Black supervisors within the department, Sgt. Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva meets with supporters at an election night gathering in East L.A. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva's. Villanueva has appeared on Fox News to dismiss the notion of widespread police brutality, and in regular social media broadcasts, he has taken on a Trump-like demeanor, calling his critics trolls and out-of-touch elites. He lost in the general election on November 8, 2022. We see the problem getting bigger every single year like clockwork. Its embarrassing.. He said the controversies were false narratives crafted as political attacks. Dies geschieht in Ihren Datenschutzeinstellungen. This article is about the sheriff. In February, relatives of crime victims gathered downtown to launch a campaign to recall Gascn from office. The early returns also showed overwhelming support for Measure A, the ballot measure that would give the county's Board of Supervisors the power to fire a sitting sheriff, with 70% voting in favor. That is democracy in decline. Villanueva was the first to dislodge a sitting L.A. County sheriff in more than a century; in the late 1990s, an incumbent nearly won reelection despite dying days before the vote. Texas sheriff leaves Dems Villanueva handily won re-election in In August 2018, Villanueva instituted a permanent moratorium[33] on transferring undocumented immigrants to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The rest had no opinion or hadnt heard of him. ", Sonenshein added of Villanueva: "If he wins, I think it would kind of challenge the conventional wisdom that he's made so many enemies in L.A. that he couldn't possibly be reelected.". All rights reserved. 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