By Mary O’KEEFE

The final list of qualified candidates has been released that will appear on the LA County primary election ballot on March 5, 2024.

There are so many candidates running for so many seats it is not possible to mention them all, but below are a few. For a complete list visit http://tinyurl.com/bdew49sm.

Twenty-two candidates are running for the office of President. That includes eight candidates from the Democratic Party, nine from the Republican Party, one from the Green Party, one from the Libertarian Party and three from the Peace and Freedom Party. Some of those candidates include Joseph R. Biden Jr., with the Democratic Party, and Chris Christie, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley and Donald J. Trump with the Republican Party.

U.S. Senate full term candidates: There are 27 candidates for this race with 11 Democrats, 10 Republicans, one American Independent, one Libertarian and four stating no party preference. Some of these candidates include Democrats Sepi Gilani, Barbara Lee, Christina Pascucci, Katie Porter and Adam Schiff. From the Republican Party are Eric Early and Steve Garvey.

U.S. Senate partial/unexpired term: This election is to complete the term of the late Senator Diane Feinstein. The candidate who is elected in the March primary election will complete Senator Feinstein’s term from March 5, 2024 to Jan. 3, 2025.

The top two candidates who receive the most votes in the full term election in March will go on to the November election. The winner of the November election will win the Senate full term seat.

There are seven candidates who are running for the partial/unexpired term and for the full term.

From our readership area, U.S. House of Representatives District 28: There are four candidates including Judy Chu, Democrat, April A. Verlato, Republican, Jose Castaneda, Libertarian and William Patterson, Peace and Freedom.

U.S. Representative District 30: Fifteen candidates are running for this seat, which is presently held by Rep. Adam Schiff who is now running for U.S. Senate. The candidates include one with No Party Preference, two Republicans and 12 Democrats. There are some familiar names on this list including Mike Feuer, Laura Friedman, Antony Portantino, G “Maebe” Pudlo and Ben Savage. All are running under the Democratic Party; candidates Alex Balekian and Emilio Martinez of the Republican Party. 

State Senate District 25: There are five candidates for this seat: four Democrats and one Republican. This is the seat that is presently held by Anthony Portantino, who is running for U.S. Congressional seat District 30.

Those running for this seat are Democrats Teddy Choi, Sandra Armenta, Sasha Renée Pérez and Yvonne Yiu; also running is Elizabeth Wong Ahlers under the Republican banner.

State Assembly District 44: There are eight candidates for this seat that is presently held by Laura Friedman who is running for U.S. Congressional District 30. There are six Democrats, one Republican and one No Party Preference. The candidates are Democrats Elen Asatryan, Carmenita Helligar, Ed Han, Steve Pierson, Adam Pryor and Nick Schultz. For the Republican Party, the candidate is Tony Rodriguez and the No Party Preference candidate is Adam Summer.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Office Fifth District: There are five candidates who running for this seat. They are incumbent Kathryn Barger, Perry Goldberg, Chris Holden, Marlon Marroquin and Konstantine Anthony. This seat is non-partisan.

For LA County District Attorney there are 12 candidates including Jeff Chemerinsky, George Gascón, Jonathan Hatami, Nathan Hochman, Dan Kapelovitz, Lloyd “Bobcat” Masson, John McKinney, David S. Milton, Craig J. Mitchell, Maria Ramirez, Eric Siddall and Debra Archuleta.

For Glendale City Council there are two non-partisan seats that are up for election in March. There are seven candidates for these two seats including: Ardy (Ardashes) Kassakhian, Vartan Gharpetian, James Clarke, Vrej Agajanian, Andre Haghverdian, Karen Kwak and Denise Miller.

There is one seat for Trustee Area 5 for the Glendale Community College (GCC) board of trustees. There are two candidates for the non-partisan seat: Armine Pogosyan and Sevan Benlian.

For Trustee Area 1 for the GCC board of trustees there are two candidates for the non-partisan seat: Desirée P. Rabinov and Harry Leon.

There are three candidates running for one non-partisan seat in the Glendale Unified School District (GUSD) Trustee Area A (which includes Crescenta Valley):

Jordan Henry, Telly Tse and Shant Kevorkian.

For GUSD Trustee Area E there are two candidates Aneta Krpekyan and Neda Farid.

There are three seats up for the La Cañada Flintridge City Council election with five candidates running for those seats. The candidates for the non-partisan seats are Keith Eich, Jeanne Kim Hobson, Rick Gunter, Stephanie Fossan and Quemars Ahmed.

CVW will be inviting candidates to be interviewed solely for the purpose of sharing their positions on various issues. Those who respond to our invitation will be included in our articles. Again, it should be noted that our reporters will follow specific CVW guidelines for candidate interviews and will not print personal attacks or hate speech. We simply want to know how the candidates will serve their constituents and how their experience in the area of the office they are running for makes them the best choice.