Assembly District 50 Election Results: Who Voted For Betsy Butler and Richard Bloom?

Ted Soqui

Richard Bloom and Betsy Butler

Take the L.A. Weekly exit poll after the jump. We want to know why you voted for Betsy Butler or Richard Bloom.

While Assemblywoman Betsy Butler and Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom wait for election results to be confirmed in the too-close-to-call Assembly District 50 race, the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder has released voter totals for various parts of Los Angeles County -- and we're going to break down the numbers right here.

Bloom, the underdog who's winning so far by a little more than 200 votes, kept the race close by not getting blown out in any one area, except for West Hollywood where Butler won convincingly 7,252 to 4,814 -- more on that later.

Bloom did perform strongly, however, in Agoura Hills, Santa Monica, and Beverly Hills.

In Los Angeles, which includes voters in City Council districts 4, 5, 10, 11, and 13, Butler outpaced Bloom: Butler got 36,474 votes to Bloom's 35,129 (advantage Butler by 1,345 votes).

Butler won L.A. council districts 4, 10, and 13, with Bloom capturing 5 and 11, which are districts on L.A.'s Westside.

The rest of the breakdown works out this way:

- Agoura Hills: Bloom 3,977 and Butler 2,992 (advantage Bloom by 985 votes)

- Beverly Hills: Bloom 5,372 and Butler 3,877 (advantage Bloom by 1,495 votes)

- Calabasas: Bloom 24 and Butler 4 (advantage Bloom by 20 votes)

- Malibu: Bloom 2,154 and Butler 2,040 (advantage Bloom by 114 votes)

- Topanga: Butler 1,642 and Bloom 1,363 (advantage Butler by 279 votes)

- Santa Monica: Bloom 15,274 and Butler 13,840 (advantage Bloom by 1,434 votes)

- West Hollywood: Butler 7,252 and Bloom 4,814 (advantage Butler by 2,438 votes)

- Unincorporated areas: Bloom 3,709 and Butler 3,524 (advantage Bloom by 185 votes)

Political analyst Jaime Regalado predicted to L.A. Weekly that the gay vote would go to Bloom because gays and lesbians were angry at Butler over the rough primary battle between Butler and gay rights activist Torie Osborn. We don't have voter demographics for the Assembly District 50 race, but in heavily gay-populated West Hollywood Regalado's prediction may not have materialized.

What do all these numbers mean? Good question. Unfortunately, there isn't exit polling that we know about that asked voters why they voted for Bloom or Butler. Bloom did hit Butler hard for her failure to vote on a California sex-pervert bill, which was not passed, in part, because of that non-vote. But did voters really care or even know about that issue?

So, we'll turn it over to you, and hold an informal L.A. Weekly exit poll. Tell us in the comments section, below, why you voted for Bloom or Butler. We'd like to know.

Contact Patrick Range McDonald at pmcdonald@laweekly.com.

Tags:

Assembly District 50, Betsy Butler, Beverly Hills, election results, Los Angeles, Malibu, Patrick Range McDonald, Richard Bloom, Santa Monica, vote breakdown

We Recommend

irishsob

Two years ago when a ceiling collapsed in a Section 8 building full of disabled and senior citizens here in Santa Monica, we began to organize a tenants association. We wrote to every member of the Santa Monica City Council and the only person who responded and helped us here in the land of renter's rights, was Richard Bloom - period.

As such, most of our residents here supported Mayor Bloom. I'm sure Ms. Butler is a nice, well intentioned soul, but her flood of mailers did her a real disservice and she will be beholden to many well heeled special interests who payed for all that glossy overkill.

Since Mayor Bloom got little 'establishment' support at either the state level or locally in the district, he will be beholden to no one.

That, plus the fact that every vote in the Assembly will be needed, if the Democrats are to have a super majority in the Assembly, puts Mr. Bloom in the very unique position to represent his constituents in a most independent and influential fashion.

As such, I hope his lead holds.

patrick.range.mcdonald

Thanks again for the input!

Patrick Range McDonald,

LA Weekly

MrEguy

I voted for Richard Bloom. I met Richard when he was canvassing door-to-door in my neighborhood and had a nice conversation, just prior to the primary election, when he ran against Torie Osborn. Bloom's visit got me interested in the Assembly race, and I followed the subsequent kerfuffle regarding Betsy Butler's abstention from voting for the child predator legislation. That didn't make her attractive as a candidate one iota. The amount of campaign fliers delivered to my mailbox was astounding. Glad it's over, and very happy Bloom will represent me, and us, in Sacramento.

miraclemile

1 Like

I voted for Bloom because Butler did not support the bill that made it easier to fire teachers who molest kids. I would like to have a representative who isn't completely beholden to the union. I'm generally liberal, but I think the teacher's union has way too much power in this state.

savetara

1 Like

The political game has gone from the best person winning to the one with the most money to fix the game winning. I voted for Bloom because he’s an independent thinker and knows our issues in the district. Betsy just moved into our district to run. The democratic party honchos poured huge money into the Butler campaign. They filled the clubs to ensure she’s be endorsed...so those slate cards everyone takes to the polls would favor Butler. Later, those endorsing Betsy will be rewarded with support from those honchos for their campaigns. I was also distressed that Butler didn’t make an instant statement about the child Protection bill. If she didn’t believe in it she should have voted against it and explained her vote. She appeared to be playing both sides & got caught. I hope Bloom wins!

ede19

1 Like

I'm a WeHo resident who both attended and hosted a Meet & Greet for Richard Bloom and am very happy I did, exposing him to people outside of WeHo who normally don't pay attention to local politics. All came away strong supporters nd I got lots of feedback that they were recommending him to their friends. We have all been very impressed by him as a candidate. I was very turned off by Betsy during the primaries. Richard had the maturity to stay above the fray between her and Osbourne which looked like a cat fight to observers. Bloom also has the skill set that we need in Sacramento from his life experience as a Family Law Attorney. He understands personalilty conflicts and how to attempt to resolve them, something you don't appreciate unless you are in one of those kind of battles - and that's the kind of personality we need to represent us in this dysfunctional state. I have been impressed with what he has done as Mayor of SM over the years, and my impression of him - as the cancer patient below mentioned - is that he is a compassionate man. I too was sick of the number of flyers sent out by Butler both during the primary and this campaign and it made me wonder where all the money was comng from. I don't understand why the WeHo Establishment supported her as strongly as they did and found it very suspect. She made a bad impression on me well before the Anderson Cooper and LA Weekly target pieces. Keeping my fingers crossed he will continue to stay in the lead.

patrick.range.mcdonald

Much thanks for those thoughts everyone!

Patrick Range McDonald,

LA Weekly

CancerPatient

1 Like

I voted for Richard Bloom...I have a rare cancer, and have never heard Betsy Butler stand up for healthcare the way she did for BPA in baby bottles since the reason for the ban was about health issues it caused...one out of three people will be affected by cancer in their lives according to Livestrong and BBC Health, why doesn't she have anything to say on this especially with her stance on BPA in Baby Bottles, why not address the subject of cancer, not every cancer patient gets colon, prostate or breast cancers, there are more exotic versions, why not better exemptions in the Managed Care system for those who get cancer...In my time living in Santa Monica while Richard Bloom was Mayor Santa Monica has been very compassionate to my needs as a cancer patient. Oh yes and Betsy Butler was endorsed by the AAGLA that wants to get rid of rent control...those did it for me.

90069

1 Like

I live in weho and was totally inundated with mailers from the Butler campaign. I’m talking 3-4 a day, not sure if that happened everywhere. So if you’ve got the type of person that doesn’t bother to look into the candidates (and I’m sure there were plenty), that probably had a huge effect on the weho #’s.

smjon

@90069 In Santa Monica we also got tons of mailers pro-Betsy Butler, both from her campaign and from various Committees and third parties. I liked both candidates but was disgusted by that aspect of the campaign and voted for Bloom.