Villaraigosa defeats incumbent Hahn in L.A. mayor's race
City's first Hispanic mayor in 133 years
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 Los Angeles elects Antonio Villaraigosa as mayor.
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LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Noting there are "great challenges ahead of us," City Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa defeated incumbent James Hahn to become the first Hispanic mayor of Los Angeles in more than 100 years.
Leading in the balloting, Villaraigosa claimed victory early Wednesday.
"You know I love L.A., but tonight I really love L.A.," he told a cheering crowd of supporters. Hahn conceded defeat a short time later.
With his election, Villaraigosa is the first Latino to serve as Los Angeles mayor since Cristobal Aguilar left office in 1872.
"We are all Angelenos tonight," an exuberant Villaraigosa said. "It doesn't matter where you came from."
With 82 percent of precincts reporting, Villaraigosa had 59 percent of the vote to 41 percent for Hahn, The Associated Press reported.
Four years ago, Hahn narrowly beat Villaraigosa, but his popularity was sapped by high-profile controversies and an investigation into corruption at City Hall.
In the first round of voting on March 8, Villaraigosa captured 33 percent of the vote, compared to 24 percent for Hahn. A recent Los Angeles Times poll had Villaraigosa up by 11 points ahead of Tuesday's vote.
Both men are Democrats, though the race is non-partisan.
Hahn, who ran on a slogan of "Gutsy Decisions, Results to Back It Up," touted his administration's success in making Los Angeles safer, noting that violent crime has dropped 18 percent. He also claimed credit for helping to keep the city together by leading the effort to thwart a secession drive in the suburban San Fernando Valley.
But his 2002 decision to replace former Police Chief Bernard Parks, who is black, cut into his support among black voters, who were a key constituency for him four years ago. In 2001, according to exit polls, eight in 10 black voters supported Hahn; recent polls indicated that support had plunged to about 40 percent.
Parks, who came in fourth in the first round of voting in the mayoral race, endorsed Villaraigosa. So did former NBA star Magic Johnson and a number of prominent black elected officials.
In 2001, Hahn also carried the San Fernando Valley, a mostly white area with conservative leanings, with 55 percent of the vote. But his opposition to the secession effort angered many Valley voters.
Despite his recent political difficulties, Hahn, who hails from a prominent Los Angeles political family, has kept the support of many of the area's labor unions. Also on his side were popular U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, herself the former mayor of San Francisco.
The final Los Angeles Times poll ahead of the election showed that while most white and black voters disapproved of Hahn's job performance, he still led Villaraigosa among both groups.
Villaraigosa, the charismatic former speaker of the California Assembly, is hoping to add disgruntled Hahn voters to his base in the Latino community, which makes up nearly half of the city's population.
Despite Hahn's status as the incumbent, Villaraigosa won the backing of many of the city's Democratic Party organizations and top Democrats in statewide offices, including Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante.
Former Mayor Richard Riordan, a Republican who now serves in the administration of GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, also endorsed Villaraigosa.
With Hahn' loss, he becomes the first incumbent tossed from office since Sam Yorty in 1973.
CNN's Bill Schneider and Robert Yoon contributed to this report.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
