In the Los Angeles City Controller race, frontrunners Dennis Zine and Ron Galperin are duking it out. Zine raised more money — $811,000 to Galperin's $362,000 — but Galperin got a Los Angeles Times endorsement and is keeping things close. A May runoff looks likely.

With 30 percent of precincts reporting, Zine leads with 55,444 votes or 38.01 percent and Galperin has 50,540 votes or 34.65 percent. An outright winner needs more than 50 percent of the vote or the contest goes to a runoff with the top two winners facing each other.

Zine is an L.A. City Councilman who represents parts of the San Fernando Valley and will be termed out this year. He's looking to replace Wendy Greuel, who's running for mayor.

Galperin is a lawyer who got a major endorsement from the Service Employees International Union, one of the most powerful unions in Los Angeles.

Galperin is one of several gay candidates across Los Angeles who has a solid chance of winning his race. Others include L.A. Council District 11 frontrunning candidate Mike Bonin and L.A. Council District 13 candidate Mitch O'Farrell. Underdog mayoral candidate Kevin James is also gay.

Contact Patrick Range McDonald at pmcdonald@laweekly.com.

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