John Hollaway Leads Arleen Rojas in Tight Carson District 4 Race

Carson City Council District 4 Race Stays Tight as Ballots Are Tallied

“I have so much passion for this community and it will be a moral win for Carson if we win this,” entrepreneur John Hollaway said in an interview.

The race for Carson City Council District 4 remained razor thin on Saturday, Nov. 7, with Hollaway holding a narrow lead over incumbent Arleen Rojas. The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, which released the semi-official results for the Nov. 3 election shortly after 3 a.m. Wednesday, will continue updating the numbers daily until all outstanding ballots are tallied and the results are certified.

The initial semi-official figures comprised all vote-by-mail ballots that arrived by Election Day and those cast at Vote Centers before the polls closed at 8 p.m. Tuesday. Outstanding items left to tally include vote-by-mail ballots postmarked by Election Day that arrived later in the week, alongside provisional and conditional ballots. Officials have not yet disclosed the exact count of remaining uncounted ballots.

Inside the Numbers and the November 27 Certification Timeline

The most recent post-election update, released at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, put Hollaway ahead with 3,528 votes, giving him 51.73% of the total counted so far. Rojas trailed closely with 3,292 votes, or 48.27%. That leaves a margin of just 236 votes separating the two candidates as election workers methodically process the remaining stack.

The registrar is tentatively scheduled to certify the election results on Nov. 27. Until that formal certification lands, the outcome remains open.

Hollaway has framed his campaign around a pledge to bring regular communication and physical presence back to a neglected part of the municipality. “The community has said to me, ‘We need you. We need somebody that’s present; that’s not invisible; that’s not a ghost.’ And so, I know this community needs me and now I have to sacrifice myself for this community and that’s what I’m doing,” Hollaway said.

District 4 has long felt overlooked by City Hall, according to Hollaway, who previously stated that he would establish regular town hall meetings to bridge the gap between residents and local government. If elected, his stated 100-day plan involves direct consultations with city employees and residents in underserved neighborhoods to keep local spending and municipal services centered inside Carson rather than driving residents to neighboring cities.

The Public Safety Debate in District 4

On the opposing side of the platform, incumbent Arleen Rojas has focused her campaign on structural improvements to public safety across the city. Outlining her priorities in the Southern California News Group’s Voter Guide, Rojas emphasized that neighborhood security serves as the foundational element of a thriving municipality.

To tackle crime, Rojas pointed to her work helping establish the city’s Public Safety Task Force, reactivating the Safety First Act Now initiative, and launching the Community Oriented Policing initiative aimed at directly curbing property crime and illegal street takeovers. Rojas did not respond to multiple requests for comment from reporters following the release of the mid-week tallies.

As the registrar’s office processes the remaining mail-in and provisional items over the coming weeks, attention now shifts to the daily afternoon updates leading up to the Thanksgiving week certification deadline.