Live Election Results: 2026 LA County Sheriff race - Luna v Villanueva

LOS ANGELES - In Los Angeles County's high-profile and fiercely competitive race for Sheriff, incumbent Sheriff Robert Luna and former Sheriff Alex Villanueva are facing off yet again in a showdown for leadership of the nation’s largest sheriff’s department.

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By the numbers:

Here's a live look as results come in:

Candidates at a glance

Robert Luna 

Incumbent Sheriff Robert Luna, who was elected in 2022 after serving 36 years with the Long Beach Police Department – including seven years as Chief of Police – is pitching a platform centered on reform, accountability, and stability. 

Raised in East Los Angeles, Luna's re-election campaign focuses on restoring public trust through constitutional policing, strong civilian oversight, and anti-deputy gang policies. 

His core priorities emphasize using data-driven enforcement strategies to reduce violent crime, as well as collaborating directly with county supervisors and local community organizations to address homelessness and public safety.

Alex Villanueva

Former Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who served as LA County Sheriff from 2018 to 2022 and spent over three decades rising through the department's ranks as a deputy, sergeant, and lieutenant, is campaigning on a platform of operational strength and aggressive enforcement. 

Villanueva’s primary goal is to address severe departmental shortages by rapidly hiring 2,000 new deputies to halt forced overtime. 

Positioning himself as a fiercely independent outsider willing to fight back against county oversight boards and local politicians, his campaign promises to re-establish specialized units to crack down on retail theft, street takeovers, and property crimes across the county.

A battle over strategy, oversight, and morale

As the campaign reached its climax, the debate centered on contrasting leadership styles and law enforcement philosophies, with Luna pressing for his record of reform, increased transparency, and a stabilized relationship with oversight bodies.

Rooted in his upbringing in East LA as the child of a poor Latino immigrant family, Luna’s platform is shaped by experiencing both "good and bad policing" in the very neighborhoods patrolled by the sheriff's department. 

Grounding his re-election bid on five core pillars—reducing violent crime, increasing public trust, modernizing department infrastructure, addressing homelessness, and improving deputy wellness—he emphasizes steady, relationship-based policing. To advocate for continuing his track record centered on modern leadership and departmental stability, Luna points to sustained year-over-year drops in violent crime across LASD-patrolled communities, alongside his 36-year law enforcement career and seven years as Long Beach Chief of Police.

On the other hand, Villanueva is framing his campaign around the core mantra, "Rescue. Rebuild. Restore," grounding his platform on his prior accomplishments leading the nation's largest sheriff's department. 

His campaign underscores his track record of turning a inherited $101 million budget deficit into a $74 million surplus, hiring 1,100 deputies in his first year, and replacing a political patronage system with merit-based promotions. 

Highlighting his leadership during the 2020 civil unrest, large-scale raids on cartel-tied illegal cannabis grows, and specialized Public Corruption Unit investigations, Villanueva points to his executive and military background—including service in the U.S. Air Force and National Guard—to argue that he possesses the proven crisis management experience required to restore operational strength, financial discipline, and public safety across Los Angeles County.

2026 ElectionsElectionLos AngelesInstastoriesRobert LunaAlex VillanuevaCalifornia PoliticsCaliforniaPolitics