Hahn in Runoff Race: ‘Feeling Great’

Los Angeles City Councilmember Janice Hahn is breathing a little easier now that she knows she’ll participate in the July 12 runoff election to fill the 36th Congressional District seat .

Hahn's opponent will be Republican .

Hahn spoke with Patch by telephone Thursday morning following Tuesday’s primary: “It certainly feels great to have come in first with 16 candidates in the race,” she said. “It was very satisfying.”

Despite predictions that she would be a shoe-in for the runoff, Hahn said that she was still very nervous.

“There’s always doubt. You always wonder if the voters that say they are going to vote for you actually make it the polls and it was raining Tuesday so that was also a concern,” she said, adding that she still hasn’t had much time to bask in Tuesday’s victory.

“I still have a day job as an L.A. city councilmember and I spent all day [Wednesday] in City Council chambers deliberating on our budget and trying to close the budget gap in the city,” she told Patch.

Hahn admitted that she was very surprised to learn that her opponent in the July 12 runoff could be a Republican.

“Like others, I had been saying all along [the runoff] was probably going to be two Democrats and we were completely surprised on election night, and it all happened at the very end,” she said.

But Hahn's campaign tactics would not change no matter her opponent, she said.

“It’s psychologically a different feeling depending on who we face, but I think my methods of creating jobs and getting the economy back and running and ending the war [are what counts],” she said. “It’s going to be the same message no matter who my opponent is, as that’s what's resonating with the voters.”

Asked about the  just days before Tuesday’s election attacking Bowen, Hahn said, “I think from the very beginning the Bowen campaign had gone very negative against me, from the very first debate."

"We had been positive throughout the whole campaign and at the end we just wanted to set the record straight. We didn’t want to end up like [2004 Democratic presidential candidate] John Kerry and have the opposing campaign hitting us and hitting us and hitting us,” she said.

Now Hahn is just focused on moving forward now, she said.