Voters in seven Los Angeles City Council districts went to the polls Tuesday to decide who will win outright victory and who will advance to a runoff in a series of races that could reshape City Hall.

Thirty-one candidates competed in contests that will help determine the future of the city’s fight against homelessness, its approach to policing and public safety, and its continued efforts to make housing more affordable, especially for the city’s renters.

Primary election results: Los Angeles County

Six of the seven races have incumbents seeking four-year terms.

On the east side, Councilman Kevin de Len hoped to fend off seven challengers, including State Assembly members Miguel Santiago and Wendy Carrillo, both Democrats, and tenant rights attorney Ysabel Jurado.

De Len, a former state lawmaker, is attempting a comeback after being at the center of a scandal over a secretly recorded conversation with former colleagues in which racist and derogatory comments were made. He has since repeatedly apologized for his role in that conversation, which took place in October 2021.

Meanwhile, in the northwest San Fernando Valley, Councilman John Lee faced off against nonprofit leader Serena Oberstein. That race has focused heavily on the issue of ethics in its final days.

Oberstein spent much of the campaign highlighting an ongoing ethics commission case against Lee, which heavily focuses on allegations that Lee violated laws governing the reporting and acceptance of gifts to city politicians. For his part, Lee criticized Oberstein for a 2019 lawsuit over her eligibility to run for council, which ended when a judge was found.

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that she was legally prohibited from fleeing.

In a district that spans the Hollywood Hills, Councilmember Nithya Raman wanted to meet the challenges of Deputy City Atty. Ethan Weaver and software engineer Levon “Lev” Baronian. Raman had participated in a race that was very different from the one she was elected to in 2020.

In South Los Angeles, Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson was heavily favored to win his bid for a third and final seat

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term. His rivals in the race are real estate agent Jahan Epps and labor leader Cliff Smith.

Meanwhile, in the San Fernando Valley, Councilwoman Imelda Padilla was the heavy favorite in her race against real estate agent Ely De La Cruz Ayao and

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Minasova, a respiratory care practitioner who is also running for State Assembly. Padilla won a special election last summer, replacing former Council President Nury Martinez, and is seeking her first full four-year term.

Councilwoman Heather Hutt, who has been in office since 2022, ran for her first full four-year term in a district from Koreatown to Crenshaw.

Four candidates say Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer, attorney Grace Yoo, former City Commissioner Aura Vasquez and Pastor Eddie Anderson, a community organizer, wanted to unseat Hutt, who was first appointed to the seat just months after former Councilman Mark Ridley -Thomas was indicted. in a federal corruption case.

The only contest without an incumbent was in the East San Fernando Valley, where seven candidates sought to fill the seat vacated this year by Council President Paul Krekorian, first elected in 2009.

Former state Assembly member Adrin Nazarian, a former Krekorian aide, competed with housing attorney Manny Gonez, small business owner Jillian Burgos, Commissioner Sam Kbushyan and several others.