With the Nov. 5 election fast approaching, Los Angeles City Council District 14 incumbent Kevin de León seeks another four-year term to represent his predominantly Latino community.
De León, who came in second in the primary after tenant rights attorney Ysabel Jurado, faces a tough reelection bid two years after a scandal over a secretly taped conversation that involved racist remarks.
Jurado said de Leon’s leadership hurts constituents in CD 14, which includes neighborhoods in Boyle Heights, downtown L.A., Eagle Rock, El Sereno, Garvanza, Glassell Park, Highland Park, Lincoln Heights and Monterey Hills.
“Community groups and non-profits don’t want to work with him because of his tarnished reputation,” she said.
But de León said his opponent is running a “highly negative campaign” because “she has no body of work that she has, therefore she has to point that out all the time.”
It was his constituents, de León said, who urged him to run for reelection.
“It was many of my constituents who picked me up when I was down,” he said, “and I owe them so much.”
The secretly recorded tape in October 2021 captured Ron Herrera, the president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, and three Los Angeles City Council members — de León, Gil Cedillo and Nury Martinez — making racist remarks.
Herrera and Martinez — then president of the Los Angeles City Council — resigned within days. And Cedillo stepped down after losing his reelection bid to his challenger Eunisses Hernandez.
But de León refused to step down, working his way to regain the trust of his constituents.
The last couple of years, he said, have been “a very painful journey” as he dealt with people “spitting on me, screaming and yelling and physical hostility. My staff has endured it, too.”
Still, his team has moved more than 2,300 homeless people into housing in the last four years. They’ve created six new interim housing facilities across his district, including the largest tiny home village in the U.S. His team also acquired 11 vacant Caltrans properties along the 710 freeway to build affordable housing.
He has made significant efforts to raise $292,460 for his campaign compared with $123,807 raised by Jurado, according to the most recent official data as of June 30.
Jurado said she is ready to turn the page and give the district a break from the scandals that hit the district which started with former Councilmember Jose Huizar, who was sentenced in January to 13 years in federal prison for racketeering conspiracy and tax evasion, after shaking down at least $1.5 million from real estate developers.
“Our district has been so run down by the past leadership that has been corrupt, and that’s not who I am,” she said in a phone interview. “We are ready to give them city services and put public servants at the center and what it means to be council members instead of all this scandal, crime, corruption and bribery.”
What sets her apart from her opponent and predecessors, Jurado said, is her ability to work hard and admit her mistakes.
“I’m learning and I’ll say when I’m wrong and I’ll say it the first time and I’ll make every effort to make it right and listen to my constituents or colleagues to better inform my opinion,” she said.
De León said he has secured $143 million in funding for projects in his district, including more street lighting, creating green spaces in the community, and restoring historic man-made Hollenbeck Lake in the city’s popular Hollenbeck Park in Boyle Heights.
When it comes to Mayor Karen Bass’ call to add hundreds of police officers to the Los Angeles Police Department, de Leon said the city has “dangerously low numbers” of police officers. LAPD currently has 470 vacancies.
“My opponent seeks to abolish the police,” de Leon said. “I’m not going to play with the lives of my constituents because that’s both reckless and dangerous to want to abolish the police.”
But Jurado said she will oppose a budget that increases funding for the LAPD.
“The department has been more funded than it ever has been before, but our constituents in the 14th don’t feel any safer,” she said. “We want more parks and recreation programs. We want more lighting and youth development programs. And yet all of those only represent 1% or less than 1% of the city budget.”
On the issue of affordable housing, Jurado backs fast-tracking affordable housing projects, strengthening rent control and repealing Municipal Code 41.18, which allows the city to sweep homeless encampments. She said the housing issue is “a responsibility that should be born citywide to resolve our housing affordability and homelessness problem.”
De León said the city needs to “aggressively build affordable housing for working families.” He added, “There are a lot of areas to grow vertically, and we can do so in downtown Los Angeles. I’m a strong believer in building more affordable housing in Los Angeles.”
Joel Fox, adjunct professor at the Pepperdine School of Public Policy, said the main challenge for de León will be to win over constituents who didn’t vote for him in the primary election.
“The scandal that he was involved in is not in the news lately and a lot of people have other things in their lives to worry about,” Fox said. “Time heals a lot of wounds.”
Fernando Guerra, director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University, said both candidates have “some good messages.”
Guerra said de Leon’s campaign sends a message that says: “’Even with the scandal, and the fact that I was taken off committees and my colleagues haven’t been cooperative, I still have delivered more than most council members.’” Guerra noted, “Whether it’s true or not I don’t know, but certainly that’s the message. And I think it brought some people back.”
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