Members of the Muir election campaign team
BREAKING NEWS: St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, brought this surprise: Only three votes now separate Mayor Don Kendrick from challenger Tim Hepburn. The totals now stand at 3,186 votes (50.02%) for Kendrick and 3,183 votes (49.98%) for Hepburn. Official results won’t be certified by the L.A. Register Recorder until March 31, 2017.
As of early Friday morning, March 10, results from the March 7 La Verne election for mayor showed incumbent mayor Don Kendrick, holding a 71-vote advantage (50.76 percent) over councilman challenger Tim Hepburn (49.24) percent.
There are a total of 703 absentee and provisional ballots yet to be counted. Counting of the 404 absentee ballots will occur today, March 10; counting of the 299 provisional ballots will take place next Tuesday, March 14.
Given the current number of outstanding ballots and the slim 71-vote difference separating Kendrick and Hepburn, no official statement regarding the election results has been issued by either candidate.
For the two seats at the city council level, the current margin among the leaders appears much clearer.
As of Friday, March 10, incumbent Robin Carder was leading handily, with 31.4 percent of the votes in the five-member field, all but ensuring her return to the council for another four-year term.
“I am honored to serve the citizens of La Verne for another four years,” Carder said. “I appreciate their confidence in me and I thank them for taking the time to vote. La Verne is a special place because of the citizens and my commitment is to preserve the values and pride that we all share every day.
“I consider us one big family because we take care of each other. Thank you La Verne, I will make you proud!”
Also expected to join her on the council is newcomer Muir Davis, who currently has received 25.4 percent of the vote. He will fill the vacated seat of Donna Redman who chose not to seek re-election.
“I am excited about the opportunity to serve the residents of La Verne,” Davis said. “I am eager to learn everything that I need to know in order to be a good council member. “I want to help our community feel engaged with our local government and understand clearly the issues and decisions being made. I also want to find ways to make that engagement easy, meaningful and productive.”
Currently, the results for the other council candidates are: 21.3 percent for Matthew Lyons, 15.3 percent for Keith Garwick and 6.7 percent for George Karr.
This story will be updated as more election results become available.