It’s official: Redondo Beach Councilman Zein Obagi, Jr. has survived an attempt to oust him.
Obagi, the District 4 councilman, soundly defeated a recall attempt — with 72% of voters rejecting it — while a measure that would have allowed up to three cannabis dispensaries in Redondo Beach also overwhelmingly failed, with 75% opposed, according to final results from Redondo’s Oct. 19 special election.
The City Clerk’s office updated the results on Thursday, Oct. 27, with all ballots accounted for.
City Clerk Eleanor Manzano’s office processed more than 5,300 additional ballots since election night, adding that collection of votes to the overall total during Thursday’s final update of results. Combined with the 9,586 ballots processed on Oct. 19, Manzano’s office verified 14,992 ballots in total, giving the special election the highest voter turnout in the standalone city election since at least 2007.
The city processed 14,024 ballots during the March 2021 general city election, Manzano said.
The high turnout would appear to upend prior arguments that the nature of the special election was meant to confuse residents and subsequently deter them from voting.
Manzano’s office, meanwhile, will next manually tally the votes to verify against computerized calculations, she said Thursday, and will certify the election results on Tuesday, Nov. 1.
“I’m thankful to North Redondoans for doing their due diligence, and stepping up to vote and make your voices heard,” Obagi said in an Oct. 19 statement. “I am also thankful to my family, the Redondo Beach police officers and firefighters and many other groups and residents who gave time, money and personal effort to keep North Redondo authentically democratic. I see and appreciate you all, and thank you for seeing me.”
While the recall sought to oust Obagi, Measure E asked voters to override a recently passed city ordinance that allows two dispensaries. Measure E would have increased the count by one, to three stores total.
The City Council called the special election, conducted entirely by mail, as a way to pair two issues funded by Long Beach Catalyst CEO Elliot Lewis, who has admitted to being behind a push to allow dispensaries throughout the beach cities.
Lewis declined to comment after the election.
The off-cycle election, held on a Wednesday and less than three weeks before the Nov. 8 statewide general election, cost Redondo Beach $270,000. Detractors accused the council of purposely scheduling the election to dissuade people from voting. The councilmembers who voted for the special election, however, said a Wednesday election gave voters one more day to turn in ballots.
The Redondo Beach special election has also been closely watched as a test case by residents in El Segundo, Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach, who are also facing cannabis initiatives in their cities on Nov. 8. (El Segundo’s measure is a city-created initiative, not a citizen’s initiative.)
“This is a bell-ringer for other cities,” Councilman Nils Nehrenheim said in an Oct. 19 interview, “but they can’t let their guard down.”
As for the recall in District 4, which has 9,458 registered voters, nine-year resident Tonya McKenzie, the only alternative candidate, had campaigned to oust and succeed Obagi — looking to serve the remainder of his term, until March 31, 2025.
It’s a “tough loss,” McKenzie said in an Oct. 19 interview, “but this (election) was all set in motion to do just what it did.”
McKenzie was alluding to arguments she and others had made that tying the recall to the cannabis measure and holding the election on a Wednesday was meant to confuse voters.
Still, McKenzie, who is pro-business and development, also said she’ll keep moving forward, possibly repurposing some of her campaign work in cities that, according to her, don’t limit growth.
The recall petition had accused Obagi, elected in March 2021, of abandoning District 4 and “making (it) a dumping ground for the controversial items that South Redondo Beach City Councilmembers want to keep out of South Redondo Beach.”
The petition cited Obagi’s votes last year on a temporary homeless shelter and housing density.
In July 2021, Obagi voted to keep Pallet homes — small housing units for those without permanent shelter — in District 4, near the South Bay Galleria, despite local opposition. Then in October, he voted to locate nearly all state-required affordable housing in North Redondo Beach, including in District 4.
McKenzie, president of District 4’s business association and the founder of a public relations company, said she was asked by former Councilman John Gran and other community members to “jump into this race because they wanted someone to fight for District 4.”
North Redondo, once the economic engine of the city, has become an afterthought to the City Council, McKenzie said previously.
Nonetheless, the community seems to have chosen what it wants.
“Clearly, District 4 is quite happy with Councilmember Obagi,” Brand said in a previous statement, “and our own new ordinance allowing two cannabis stores in limited areas.”
