Hahn ‘Feeling Great’ After Securing Spot in 36th Congressional District Runoff Race

Los Angeles City Councilmember Janice Hahn is breathing a  little easier knowing that she’ll now participate in the July 12 runoff to fill the 36th Congressional District seat left vacant by Jane Harman.

Whether her opponent will be fellow , won’t be known until the final vote-by-mail ballots, provisional ballots and withheld ballots have been tallied.

With 53,659 ballots processed following the May 17 primary, Hahn came out on top with 13,137 votes (24.7 percent), followed by Huey with 11,648 votes, (21.9 percent) and Bowen with 11,442 votes (21.5 percent).

Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan estimated Wednesday morning that 9,811 ballots still needed to be processed and his office is tentatively scheduled to certify the election results by Friday to state election officials.

Hahn spoke with Patch by telephone Thursday morning following Tuesday’s primary.

“It certainly feels great to have come in first with 16 candidate in the race,” she said. “It was very satisfying.”

However, despite predictions that she would be a shoe-in for the runoff, Hahn said she was still very nervous.

“There’s always doubt. You always wonder if the voters that say they are going to vote for you actually make it the polls and it was raining Tuesday so that was also a concern.”

Hahn said she hasn’t had much time to bask in Tuesday’s victory.

“I still have a day job as an LA city councilmember and I spent all day [Wednesday] in city council chambers deliberating on our budget and trying to close the budget gap in the city.”

Hahn admitted she was very surprised to learn that her opponent in the July 12 runoff could be a Republican.

“Like others, I had been saying all along [the runoff] was probably going to be two Democrats and we were completely surprised on election night [by Huey’s performance], and it all happened at the very end.”

Nonetheless, Hahn said her campaign tactics would not change no matter who her opponent is.

“It’s psychologically a different feeling depending on who we face, but I think my methods of creating jobs and getting the economy back and running and ending the war [are what counts],” she said. “It’s going to be the same message no matter who my opponent is, as that’s what resonating with the voters.”

Asked about the just days before Tuesday’s election attacking Bowen, Hahn said, “I think from the very beginning the Bowen campaign had gone very negative against me, from the very first debate. We had been positive throughout the whole campaign and at the end we just wanted to set the record straight. We didn’t want to end up like [2004 Democratic presidential candidate] John Kerry and have the opposing campaign hitting us and hitting us and hitting us.”

Hahn said she’s just focused on moving forward now.

“I’ll be back on the telephones today calling supporters and voters to raise additional funds for the runoff.  I’m just really looking forward to representing our district in Congress come July 12.”