Map: Patty Lopez carried dozens of precincts on way to surprise Assembly win

There have been various theories about how Patty Lopez, an underfunded community volunteer with no political experience, last month managed to defeat Raul Bocanegra, an up-and-coming incumbent with hundreds of thousands of campaign dollars at his disposal.

Did ballot order in the Democrat-vs.-Democrat race for the San Fernando Valley seat favor Lopez? Did the support of one of Lopez’s rivals from the June primary make the difference in November?

Whatever the causes, the final results show there also was a geographic piece to Bocanegra’s upset loss. Bocanegra was the top voter-getter in many of the 39th Assembly District’s centrally located precincts. Lopez, though, did well in most of the district’s eastern and southern precincts. She ended up carrying 109 precincts, about two-dozen more than Bocanegra.

Click on the slideshow above to see a map of each candidate’s precinct margin of victory. Below is an interactive map of the outcome. Click on a precinct for more information.