1989 Lynwood Mayoral Election (Straight Outta Lynwood)

The 1989 Lynwood Mayoral Election was held on November 3rd, 1989. The election resulted in the win of Democratic nominee Alfred M. Yankovic defeating incumbent mayor, Republican Paul Richards. While mostly known as a musician, Yankovic started his long career in politics during this election.

Democratic Primary
In a surprise victory, Alfred Yankovic won in a landslide against E.L. Morris, who served as City Council from 1986.

During the months leading up to the primary, E.L. Morris ran unopposed until November of 1988, when musician and song writer, Alfred M. Yankovic announced that he was running for the democratic nomination. Yankovic later stated "I understood the issues of my town, so I decided to run for mayor." Polls during January of 1989 indicated that Morris had a 15% lead over Yankovic, but by April his lead had shrunk to less than 2.5% due to a Campaign finance scandal involving donations from city budget finances.

On June 15th, the primary debates were held, Morris was unable to defeat Yankovic in the debates, who was more outspoken and charismatic. Polling done a week after the debates showed that Yankovic had a 4 percentage point lead.

Exit polls indicated that younger people, ages 18 to 35 overwhelmingly voted for Alfred M. Yankovic, while people aged 50 and above voted for E.L. Morris. The campaign finance scandal is a major reason why Morris failed to get the democratic nomination.

Republican Primary
Mayor of Lynwood, Paul Richards, ran unopposed for the Republican nomination, as a result, not many people voted during the republican primary. Only 60% of last year's voters voted again for this primary.