Abdo Wins Mayoralty by 5-2 Vote : Politics: Her election solidifies the re-emergence of power by the more moderate faction of Santa Monicans for Renters Rights. : NEWS ANALYSIS

Judy Abdo was already smiling when she got the first call at 3 a.m. election night urging her to run for mayor.

It was clear by then that she was going to lead a pack of 18 candidates running for the Santa Monica City Council, a victory far more significant than her nearly 300-vote margin would suggest.

“I’m very, very happy I ran first,” Abdo said at the time.

Virtually no one expected it. Some even thought Abdo might be in trouble. She had been attacked by the anti-development crowd and denied the important endorsement of the city’s police and fire unions.

But at the polls, Abdo won the only endorsement that counts. And on Tuesday, after a sometimes tense behind-the-scenes struggle with a council rival, she parlayed that victory into a two-year term as mayor on a 5-2 vote.

“I’m voting for the council member who can best bring this city and council together--council member Abdo,” said newly seated Councilman Paul Rosenstein in his first vote.

Councilman Tony Vazquez, who nominated Abdo, was selected as mayor pro tem.

The solid pro-Abdo sentiment quickly squelched a move by Councilman Kelly Olsen to have Abdo and outgoing Mayor Ken Genser split the two-year term, as they had done before. Voting for Abdo were Vazquez, Rosenstein, Abdo herself and the two council members not allied with the dominant tenants-rights majority, Robert T. Holbrook and Asha Greenberg.

In a few moments and with virtually no discussion, it was over. Genser switched seats with Abdo, with whom he has clashed over the years on development issues.

The change in the mayorship is more than a political popularity contest. For one thing, the election of Abdo solidifies the re-emergence of power by the more moderate faction of Santa Monicans for Renters Rights after years of warring, mostly over issues related to development and the homeless.

In the race for council seats earlier this month, not only did Abdo run first when others expected Genser to far outpoll her, but Paul Rosenstein, a moderate, also was elected. Ellen Goldin, a staunch anti-development ally of Genser, was not.

Abdo’s election further signals a slightly more moderate tilt to the council as a whole, isolating Genser and Olsen, whose unwillingness to compromise on a broad range of issue has been interpreted by others on the council as polarizing and non-productive.

“Ken is an obstructionist,” said just-retired Councilman Herb Katz. “He won’t listen to people not on his side.”

“He lectures the public too much,” said Councilman Robert T. Holbrook.

Vazquez was more gentle in his assessment, saying Genser was better as a council member, where he could press his agenda without interfering with the more neutral posture needed in someone chairing the meeting.

“The mayor needs to be objective and to hear all points of view,” he said.

Less pleased with the outcome was Olsen, who predicted that Abdo’s mayoral victory will further split the council. He also disputed the importance of her first-place finish among the council candidates. He attributed her showing to the fact that woman candidates generally did well in California this year, that she was listed first on the ballot and had more money to spend on her campaign than Genser.

“It was not a mandate,” Olsen said.

After the meeting, a clearly disappointed Genser accused Abdo of working with SMRR’s political foes, Holbrook and Greenberg. “It’s hard to know what kind of deal she struck,” Genser said. “It’s not hard to know who she struck it with.’

Abdo’s backers, however, insisted that there was no deal. “I think Judy runs a better meeting and is a little bit kinder to the public,” Holbrook said.

Abdo’s willingness to press a winner-take-all mayor’s strategy is also telling in a personal sense. It signals her emergence as a power broker after years of tending to accommodate others.

Holbrook said before the election that it would be a test of whether Abdo would have the courage of her convictions.

“Is she going to take instructions from (the SMRR leadership) or is she going to be her own person?” he asked.

Abdo acknowledged that her decision to push to become mayor was difficult for her because she was being strongly pressured to split the term with Genser again as a way to balance the warring factions of SMRR.

“I usually go with, ‘I should sacrifice something for the greater good,’ ” she said.

In this case, however, she said she was persuaded by friends, and even some political opponents, that her becoming mayor was for the greater good of the city.

“So many people wanted me to do this from all across the spectrum,” she said Tuesday night. “The message was (that) I was the one who could unify the council. . . . I think the issue here is that we are a council of seven people. We can work together if we all want to.”

Abdo’s close ally and mentor, retiring Councilman Dennis Zane, had strongly advocated a compromise with Genser, according to those close to Abdo, who did not want to be quoted by name.

But even if he had been able to influence Abdo, Zane apparently miscalculated the sentiments of the other SMRR council members, Vazquez and Rosenstein.

Rosenstein, who won election despite Genser’s efforts, said he had no intention of supporting him for mayor.

Genser had done everything in his power to deny Rosenstein the SMRR endorsement, going so far as to say at one point that he wouldn’t run on a ticket with the former planning commissioner.

“Judy will be a terrific mayor,” Zane said after Tuesday’s vote. “I did advise a different course, but I think this will work fine.”