LOS ANGELES—It was Election Day across California municipalities on Tuesday and candidates endorsed by local chapters of the Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region overwhelmingly won their races.
In Montebello, current mayor and incumbent city council candidate Jack Hadjinian won his re-election bid for a second term in office, while in Rolling Hills Estates, Frank Zerounian won his re-election bid to city council. Both were ANCA-WR-endorsed candidates.
In San Francisco, ANCA-WR-endorsed candidate Aaron Peskin won his bit for the 3rd Supervisor District.
“The ANCA-San Francisco Chapter congratulates all of the candidates on running successful campaigns in yesterday’s elections. They have been hard-fought and are well deserved. We’d like to extend a warm welcome to Aaron Peskin as the new Supervisor of San Francisco’s District 3. We look forward to working with each of them on issues important to the Armenian Community and wish you all the best for your noble future endeavors,” said chairman of the ANCA-Bay Area Chapter Coordinator Arsen Markarov.
In South Pasadena, two Armenian-American candidates won elections, both endorsed by the ANCA Pasadena chapter. Marina Khubesrian won the race for city council, while Suzie Abajian won her race for the South Pasadena Unified School District. Another ANCA Pasadena-endorsed candidate, Tom Selinske who was vying for the Pasadena Area 2 Community College Governing Board also won his race.
In his remarks following the elections, the Chairman of the ANCA Pasadena, Vahe Majarian stated, “We are very pleased with the election results. We were very active and engaged during this election cycle and were elated to see that a majority of our candidates, whom we endorsed, were elected to serve for public office.”
“We congratulate our victors, Mr. Tom Selinske, who was elected to the to the Pasadena City College Board of Trustees, Dr. Suzie Abajian who was elected to serve as a Governing Board Member of the South Pasadena Unified School District and Dr. Marina Khubesrian who was re-elected to serve as a Councilmember in the City of South Pasadena. We also commend and appreciate the efforts of all of the other candidates who courageously and honorably stepped up ran for public office. This is among the highest of callings a citizen can aspire to and we applaud their dedication to serving our communities,” added Majarian.
“Moving forward, we very much look forward to working with these newly elected or re-elected public officials, including Mr. Hoyt Hilsman, who was elected to the Pasadena City College Board of Trustees and forge stronger bonds with those whom we had the pleasure of meeting on the campaign trail. We also wish thank Mr. Bill Thomson, for his longstanding friendship and years of dedicated service to our city and wish him well in all of his future endeavors,” explained Majarian.
“To the voting public, we encourage them to review the election results and see for themselves exactly how close some of these elections were, with one of the contested seats being decided by as small as a 3 vote margin. This stresses, in concrete terms, how important each and every vote is and how important it is for each member of our community to register and participate, by voting, in each of our elections,” said Majarian.
Baku Pogrom Survivor Goes on to Win City Council Race
Over in Maine, the Armenian-American community saw one of its own win a city council seat in the town of Westbrook.
At a young age, Anna Astvatsaturian Turcotte, along with her family escaped the horrors of Azerbaijani pogroms of Armenians in Baku. She has since been a vocal advocate for refugee rights and has discussed the anti-Armenian pogroms in Congress and in academic circles.
On Tuesday, she became the first Armenian to win a seat in the Westbrook, Maine City Council.
Source: Asbarez
Link: ANCA-WR-Endorsed Candidates Overwhelmingly Win Local Races