Hopefuls in the home stretch

With the outcome of Tuesday’s presidential election looming, a couple of La Cañada politicos whose names also appear on the November ballot are busily campaigning in an effort to win hearts and minds in their own counties and districts.

Former La Cañada Flintridge mayor and assemblyman for California’s 44th District Anthony Portantino is running against Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich for a seat in the state Senate. The winner of that race replaces La Cañada resident Carol Liu, who terms out this year.

June primary results showed Republican Antonovich captured nearly 38.5% of the vote, compared to Democrat Portantino’s 27.5%. The close race has inspired a battle of campaign mailers in the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s vote.

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But following news last week he’d secured the endorsement of Gov. Jerry Brown, Portantino seemed confident about his chances at a win on election day.

“I’m honored Gov. Brown decided to endorse me,” he said Monday. “He’s done an excellent job righting California’s fiscal ship, and I’m looking forward to going back and working with him for the next two years.”

The La Cañadan counted his bi-partisan endorsements from several current and former elected officials, including Liu herself, as a testament to his qualifications.

“People understand what my priorities are and where my heart is,” he said.

Meanwhile, La Cañada resident and Los Angeles County Deputy District Atty. Debra Archuleta is running for a seat on the Superior Court bench after securing the top spot in this year’s June primary race over opponent Steven Schreiner.

Archuleta received 47.3% of the votes cast by nearly 1.51 million voters in June, just shy of an outright victory, compared to Schreiner’s 26.2%.

Having successfully weathered a legal challenge from her opponent about her chosen ballot designation title of “violent crimes prosecutor,” the La Cañada mother of two — who’s received endorsements from L.A. County District Atty. Jackie Lacey, Antonovich and U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters — says she and her family have been hard at work campaigning across a county of more than 4.8 million voters.

The task, Archuleta said Monday, is a daunting one but important given the extent to which judges’ decisions affect the lives of the people they serve.

“I think most voters may not notice, but judges can have such an impact on our daily lives, maybe even more so than some of our elected officials,” she said, categorizing her mood as “cautiously optimistic.”

“I’m keeping my feet on the ground all the way to the end,” Archuleta continued. “I’m determined to see this through to the end, and hopefully it will be a victorious ending.”

LCF voter registration numbers

Locally, statistics provided by the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder’s Office show the total voter registration for La Cañada Flintridge is at 15,052, an increase of 968 voters from similar statistics provided just before the 2008 presidential election.

The break-down in party preference among those voters seems to indicate another changing trend, as the number of La Cañadans registered as Republicans decreased — from 6,936 in 2008 to 6,182 this year — while the number of registered Democrats jumped from 4,231 to 4,822 in the same time period.

County registrar figures also show the number of voters who declined to state a party preference has risen in the past two election cycles, from 2,486 in 2008 to 3,628 in the current election.

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Sara Cardine, sara.cardine@latimes.com

Twitter: @SaraCardine