Democrat Isaac Bryan, educator and community organizer, crossed the threshold to avoid a run-off in the special election to succeed Sydney Kamlager as representative of the 54th Assembly District, according to the latest results from the Los Angeles County Registrar .

Bryan was just shy of level 50% plus 1 to win the contest after the first results were released on election night earlier this week. On Friday, May 21, when the Los Angeles County Clerk / Clerk released his first post-election tally, the Los Angeles resident had 50.78% of the vote – thousands of votes ahead of his five opponents.

Democrat Heather Hutt, then-Sen former director of state. Kamala Harris, was second, with 24.9%. None of the other four candidates had more than 10%, according to registrar data.

And mathematically, it seems almost certain that Bryan’s lead will hold, allowing him to avoid a runoff with Hutt, which would have happened on July 20 had he fallen below the majority threshold.

That’s because there are only about 280 ballots left to count, the clerk said in a press release Friday night – and all but three are postal votes. Bryan would only need about 10% of those remaining votes to stay above 50%.

And, generally, any mail-in ballots left to count after election day – they had until Friday to arrive – will follow the same pattern as everyone else, election officials regularly say. Of the 42,551 ballots counted to date, 96.5% were votes by correspondence.

The election, however, will not be final until the Registrar certifies it. This should take place on Thursday, May 27.

The winner would represent the 54th district in the State Assembly. Kamlager left the seat after winning a special election for the 30th district of the state Senate.

The 54th Assembly District includes Baldwin Hills, Cheviot Hills, Crenshaw District, Century City, Culver City, Ladera Heights, Mar Vista, Palms, Rancho Park, Westwood, and parts of southern Los Angeles and Inglewood.

Bryan did not return an email request for comment.

But on Friday afternoon, he appeared to declare his victory on Twitter, posting a photo of himself alongside a screenshot of the updated election results.

“My name is Isaac Bryan,” he wrote, “but my friends call me Mr. Assemblymember-elect.”

My name is Isaac Bryan, but my friends call me Mr. Assemblymember-elect. pic.twitter.com/ohtdR8oBb6

– Isaac Bryan (@ ib2_real) May 21, 2021

The Democrat, the founding director of the UCLA Black Policy Project, previously said he ran for the seat to ensure the 54th Assembly District can “lead the whole state of California” on reform. criminal justice. After the November general election, Bryan said, one of his siblings was arrested and charged in San Diego for actions “treated with a public health approach” in Los Angeles. This prompted him to launch his candidacy.

His closest opponent, Hutt, said during his campaign that his main issues were health care and welfare, education and equity. She said she would work to improve “the health and well-being of our families and children” and “to ensure that every Californian is treated with dignity.”

The remaining candidates and their percentage of votes are:

• Democrat Cheryl C. Turner, trial lawyer and transactional lawyer who is also chair of the board of directors of the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles, with 9.63%;
• Democrat Dallas Fowler, businesswoman and nonprofit executive, with 7.66%;
• Non-partisan candidate Bernard Senter, retail grocery employee, with 3.95%; and
• Democrat Samuel Robert Morales, financial advisor and entrepreneur, with 3.08%.

City News Service contributed to this report.