But at the headquarters of Democrats Nayiri Nahabedian and Chahe Keuroghelian, the strategy was clearly different. Campaign workers were focused on targeting one of the region’s largest voting bases — Armenian Americans, who are estimated to comprise about 30% of registered voters in the district, according to campaign workers.
Campaign workers for Nahabedian and Keuroghelian were primarily reaching out to Armenian residents over the phone, encouraging prospective voters to go to the polls.
Nahabedian, whose $175,529 in campaign expenditures exceeded any of the four candidates, printed campaign materials translated into Armenian and mailed some pieces specifically to Armenian voters.
Still, the two candidates of Armenian descent ended up at the bottom of the polls, with Nahabedian winning 22% of votes and Keuroghelian taking about 14%. Ramani and Gatto, who made few efforts to reach out specifically to Armenian voters, combined to earn nearly two-thirds of all votes cast.
The result has raised questions about relying on campaign tactics that have repeatedly failed in local elections where multiple Armenian candidates appear to split the vote from their own ethnic community, political observers and experts said.
Although campaign representatives for Nahabedian and Keuroghelian say other factors affected the election results, their emphasis on battling for Armenian American voters through campaign mailers, television appearances, commercials and phone calls may have hurt them in the race, observers and experts said.
“They would have been better off had they had an even broader approach,” said Leonard Manoukian, co-chairman of the Armenian National Committee’s Glendale chapter, which endorsed Nahabedian, a Glendale school board member.
