Voters across Los Angeles were dispirited and a little resigned about their options, despite the tight races to lead both their city and their state.
Many said they were struggling to choose from candidates they saw as uninspiring.
“I don’t really think we have a lot of good choices,” said Daen Leon, a 56-year-old gig worker who was parked outside a grocery store in Central Los Angeles on Saturday.
In interviews, voters said they felt that the election was important, but they weren’t necessarily picking candidates for mayor or governor that excited them. In some cases, they were choosing the least unpalatable option or strategizing about who they wanted to keep out of the general election in November, they said. Under California’s “top two” primary system, the two candidates who get the most votes, regardless of party, advance to the November election.
Mr. Leon, a Democrat, said he was leaning toward the billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer for governor “by default,” and would likely vote for the progressive City Council member Nithya Raman for mayor “to give her a chance.”
Daniel Gomez, 22, a maintenance worker who lives in the Elysian Valley neighborhood, was taking a more strategic approach. He said that he liked Ms. Raman, but felt that she could not win. He cast his vote for the incumbent mayor, Karen Bass, because he thought she had the best chance of beating Spencer Pratt, a Republican and former reality TV star.
Sara Sadhwani, a political science professor at Pomona College who closely follows Los Angeles politics, said that the primaries for Los Angeles mayor and California governor could offer clues to what California voters, particularly its Democratic majority, want from their elected officials.
“Do California Democrats want to move further to the left? Move further to the center? Or do they simply want to maintain the status quo?” she said. “I don’t believe we know that.”
Patty Dryden has lived in Whitley Heights, a historic Los Angeles neighborhood tucked in the Hollywood Hills, for a quarter of a century. She said her council representative, Ms. Raman, would make a great college professor, but she was unconvinced about her ability to lead the city. Mr. Pratt, she added, has a talent for identifying problems, but has offered no solutions.
This left Ms. Dryden, 75, to cast her ballot for Ms. Bass. It was her first time voting for the mayor; four years ago, Ms. Dryden had enthusiastically backed Ms. Bass’s opponent, the billionaire developer Rick Caruso.
As for governor, Ms. Dryden said she had been hopeful about Eric Swalwell, the former Democratic congressman who dropped out of the race in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations. Now, she said, she would likely vote for Xavier Becerra, a former Biden administration official.
“In my mind, he has zero charisma,” she said. “But I feel like I’m not crazy about Gavin Newsom, but he’s got tons of charisma.”
Jeffrey Simon, a 40-year-old who works in the film industry, said he was casting a ballot for Ms. Raman, but he did not believe that whoever became mayor would make much of a difference to Hollywood’s continuing job losses.
Neither Mr. Simon nor his husband felt great voting for Mr. Steyer for governor. But friends had been encouraging them to choose “the billionaire,” Mr. Simon said, and Mr. Steyer had endorsements from progressives that they found compelling.
Gerry Huffman, a 68-year-old Democrat who lives in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, said he was worried he threw away his vote for governor by picking San Jose’s young mayor, Matt Mahan, who has trailed in the polls. But he went with his heart.
“I am so tired of the far right and so tired of the far left,” Mr. Huffman said. “I am just looking for people who can get something accomplished.”
Reid Herrick, a 52-year-old Democrat who lives in and owns a business in downtown Los Angeles, took a different tack: He voted for two Republicans — Mr. Pratt for mayor and Chad Bianco, the conservative sheriff of Riverside County, for governor — to send a message of protest.
“It feels like we’ve been abandoned by government,” he said.
Mimi Dwyercontributed reporting.
Jill Cowan is a Times reporter based in Los Angeles, covering the forces shaping life in Southern California and throughout the state.
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