ELECTIONS

Surrounded by some of Los Angeles County's most powerful politicians, Jim McDonnell gave a victory speech that marveled at how far he had come from a working-class Boston neighborhood to lead the nation's largest sheriff's department.

Challenger Marshall Tuck conceded Wednesday morning to incumbent Tom Torlakson in the contest for California superintendent of public instruction, a race  that became the most expensive on the state ballot.

With preliminary election results showing her far ahead, former state lawmaker Sheila Kuehl said her competitor in the race for Los Angeles County supervisor, Bobby Shriver, called Wednesday morning to concede the closely watched contest.

Here is a breakdown of some big issues facing California cities and counties and how they fared in Tuesday's election:

Larry Agran has spent a generation as the face of Irvine as it grew from a startup community to a more cosmopolitan city recognized for its safe streets and high-performing schools, sometimes as a council member, often as its mayor.

In the only Los Angeles County election that remained too close to call Wednesday, county assessor candidate Jeffrey Prang maintained a small lead over challenger John Morris.

State Sen. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) has beat gang prosecutor Elan S. Carr, a Beverly Hills Republican, in the race to succeed Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills), who is retiring after 40 years in Congress.

A measure to keep Santa Monica airport open and a tax to raise money for Los Angeles County parks were defeated in this week's election, but a proposition to control development in Malibu passed by a wide margin, according to results confirmed Wednesday.

Republican challenger Carl DeMaio held a razor-thin lead over incumbent Rep. Scott Peters (D-San Diego) after a campaign that was filled with accusations and high levels of spending.

Political scandals, low voter turnout and concern about one political party having too much power were cited by legislative leaders and others as contributing factors in the failure of Democrats to regain a supermajority in the state Senate in Tuesday’s election.

The wave of Republican victories in Washington and state capitals across the nation turned into a small, but not insignificant, trickle by the time it hit the shores of California after Tuesday’s election.