Rita Topalian lost the Senate runoff by just 2,401 votes to the surprise of many

Rita Topalian

It's not a big secret that conservatives are more likely to cast a ballot than their more moderate and liberal counterparts when it is not either a primary or general election day.

Nobody familiar with politics in solid-blue Southeast L.A. County even considered in the 32nd Senate District where Republicans hold a third-party status could now, not even Rita Tolapian, herself that she was within striking distance of being the victor.

Vanessa Delgado who had everything going for her., or so it seemed so on the surface.

She was armed with a reported $1.5 million campaign war chest, deep political connections, and all it got her was 52.4% of votes to Topalian's 47.6%.

But perhaps the ongoing unrest in Montebello where Delgado is Mayor in a city that has seen close to a decade of turmoil and mismanagement at City Hall and a recall effort getting underway had some of the party faithful sitting this one out.

The vote does have me wondering if a little bit of help from the state GOP party may have been enough to pull off a huge upset here.

My attention now is firmly focused now on what will come from the November runoff between Topalian and former Pico Rivera Mayor Bob Archuleta that will decide who fills the seat for the next full four-year term beginning in January.

-08-15-2018