UPDATE: Trutanich has conceded. Post updated at the bottom; first posted at 9 p.m.

Carmen Trutanich's quest to hang onto his job as the L.A. City Attorney was off to an rough start last night, with early election returns showing his opponent, Mike Feuer, off to an early lead.

With 160,471 vote-by-mail ballots counted — which is still, for the record, a very small number of the total ballots coming in tonight — Feuer garnered 58.49 percent of the vote to Trutanich's 41.5 percent.

We'll have much more as this race develops, so check back often.

Trutanich is the incumbent, but he has found himself fighting to hang on to the job. One big problem: He violated his public pledge to serve two full terms as City Attorney before running for higher office — only to get stomped in the race for L.A. County District Attorney.

Mike Feuer

Mike Feuer

“Nuch” was also criticized for overreaching prosecutions of street artists, pot dispensary owners, and political protestors.

Feuer, a former state Assemblyman and former member of the L.A. City Council, had decided to run for City Attorney back when it looked like it would be an open seat. But even with Trutanich fighting to hold the seat, Feuer told the Weekly, “It took about a second to decide to stay in the race.”

Update at 10:29 p.m.: With 8 percent of precincts reporting, plus those vote-by-mail ballots, Feuer is holding his lead. He's up 58.9 percent to Trutanich's 41.07 percent. Yes, the night is still young (well, OK, not THAT young, thanks to a slow-as-molasses vote count), but things don't look great for Trutanich.

Update at 11 p.m. With 13.95 percent precincts reporting, plus vote-by-mail, Trutanich is doing even worse. He's now trailing Feuer 59.48 to 40.51 percent. This does not look like a good night for Nuch.

Update at 11:20: Damn, Nuch is getting spanked. Now 22 percent of precincts are in, and he's below 40 percent. (OK, he's at 39.99 percent, but for an incumbent, that's pretty appalling.) Feuer is garnering an even 60 percent of the vote. Hard to see this one turning around at this point.

Update at 11:30: Trutanich has conceded. Mike Feuer is L.A.'s new city attorney.

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