Compton Mayor Aja Brown wins second term

Compton Mayor Aja Brown appeared headed to a second term Tuesday, defeating former Mayor Omar Bradley, in early results.

Bradley had forced a runoff in the April primary but couldn’t make up more ground on Brown, 35, who was the youngest mayor in the city’s history when elected in 2013.

Preliminary results show Brown with 60% of the vote, according to Compton Clerk Alita Godwin. More than 1,600 provisional votes remain to be counted.

Bradley and Brown emerged from a field of six candidates in the April primary. Turnout this time around was 12.4%.

“I think the city is definitely at a crossroads,” Brown said in a phone interview from her watch party at a TGI Friday’s.

Brown went to great lengths to explain to voters how she had worked to improve the city, but she said Compton had a lot more to improve on going forward. “I’m excited to get the next phase of our work done,” she said.

While campaigning, she repeatedly pointed to her efforts to fix the city’s pothole problem. Along the way, she also made sure voters didn’t forget her opponent’s past.

Bradley, 59, was convicted of misusing city funds after his tenure as mayor ended. The finding was later thrown out on appeal, enabling him to run for office again. He does, however, face a retrial on the charges, for which a date has not been set.

The longtime politician and Compton resident ran on the message that City Hall and Brown had failed to live up to their promises to citizens. He pointed to the city’s streets as a prime example of how city services were not being delivered.

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