Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna held a wide lead over challenger and former Sheriff Alex Villanueva in early returns Tuesday in the rematch of their 2022 race. Luna, who defeated Villanueva four years earlier, was ahead as voters began weighing whether to keep him in the county’s top law enforcement job.
The size of the lead mattered because this race was not just about one office. It was about who would steer a department facing staffing gaps, rising overtime costs and the security demands that come with the Olympic Games less than two years away. Luna’s early edge also put him in line with broader county results that showed Measure A ahead and Measure E far ahead.
Luna welcomed the numbers but did not go as far as declaring victory on Tuesday evening. He said he was holding off on that call while describing himself as “extremely optimistic” after the early returns put him well ahead of Villanueva. “It sounds like the voters really did their homework comparing my opponent to me,” he said, adding, “If you google both of us and look at his four-year term compared to my term, there’s no comparison,” before thanking voters in L.A. County.
The restraint fit the shape of the race. Villanueva was trying to win back a job he lost in 2022, and both men had already guided the department through hard periods for the county. Villanueva was sheriff for nearly two years at the outset of COVID, while Luna was in office during the Eaton and Palisades fires. The next four years are expected to bring more of the same pressures, from recruitment and retention to budget discipline and the department’s role in keeping millions of visitors and athletes safe during the Olympic Games.
That is what makes the early count so closely watched: the lead was real, but so was the decision to wait. Neither Villanueva nor a spokesperson for his campaign immediately responded to requests for comment Tuesday evening, leaving Luna’s optimism as the clearest signal from a race still being measured in votes, not declarations.
