By Stephen Witt, Los Angeles County Politics
Perhaps licking their wounds from a bruising primary, the two candidates running to succeed the term-limited Bob Blumenfield in the Los Angeles City Council’s Third District have been playing radio silence with Los Angeles County Politics (LACP) as they gear up for what promises to be a down-and-dirty November general election.
According to the latest Los Angeles County Registrar results, businessman Tim Gaspar heads into the general election with 46.14 percent — or 22,112 votes — to mainstream Democrat Barri Worth Girvan‘s 42.50 percent, or 20,369 votes. With only 1,743 votes separating the two candidates, the 5,443 votes cast for third-place finisher C.R. Celona — representing 11.36 percent of the electorate — could well decide the outcome.
Celona, a political newcomer who ran on a platform of jobs, transparency, and reform, confirmed to LACP that both campaigns have reached out to him since primary night.
“I’m not endorsing anyone unless I’m playing a part in fixing your campaign,” Celona said. “I have to be active in one of their campaigns because there’s too much risk in Los Angeles.”
Neither Gaspar nor Girvan responded to Los Angeles County Politics questions about their general election strategy, their path to victory in November, or whether they had reached out to Celona — making his interview the only window into the November race any of the three candidates has provided.
That silence comes as Gaspar faces mounting questions about a social media operation — run in part by his wife, Christina Gaspar — designed to brand Girvan as a socialist by weaponizing her endorsement from the Democratic Socialists of America.
Screenshots obtained by LACP show Christina Gaspar posting on May 8 to the Concerned Woodland Hills Facebook group: “No way DSA! Get out of the West Valley! If DSA says Barri’s their pick to further their goals, then she is out of contention for me. Vote for Timothy Gaspar for CD-3!”
The characterization has a problem: DSA-LA’s own voter guide, while endorsing Girvan, states explicitly that “Girvan is no socialist.”
When interviewed prior to the June 2 primary, Girvan told LACP the smear campaign had been running for nearly a year.
“They’re distorting my values, and they’ve been saying that for months and months and months — maybe a year now. It’s very disturbing, and it’s not true,” she said. “I’m a mainstream Democrat. That does not make me a socialist.”
Girvan pointed to her record of Jewish community service as evidence of how far the label misses the mark. “I’ve served on the board of my synagogue. I worked for the Jewish Federation for years. I worked for the Shalom Institute, which was my camp growing up, and I led a delegation to Israel,” she said. “If people take two seconds to get to know me, they know how ridiculous this is.”
LACP submitted detailed questions to the Gaspar campaign, asking whether he knew about his wife’s Facebook posts before they were published, whether he sanctioned them, and whether he believed the DSA label accurately represented Girvan, given her documented record of Jewish community service and pro-Israel positions. The campaign did not respond.
The DSA allegation is one of several conduct issues that have shadowed Gaspar in the primary’s final weeks — including a recorded post-debate conversation with Girvan that surfaced in an attack video, and a chaotic public safety forum in Van Nuys where Girvan was escorted from the room after being shouted down by what she described as Gaspar supporters.
Gaspar’s campaign has disputed her characterization of both incidents.
With Celona’s voters holding the balance of power and neither frontrunner willing to engage the press, the November race for CD3 is shaping up exactly as Celona predicted: down and dirty.
CD3 spans the West San Fernando Valley neighborhoods of Canoga Park, Reseda, Tarzana, Winnetka and Woodland Hills-Warner Center.
The general election is November 3, 2026.
