The Los Angeles City Council has chosen its next president — and city hall observers say the decision represents another step left in an ongoing progressive shift within local politics.
Fourteen members voted Tuesday to elect Marqueece Harris-Dawson as the council’s next leader. The body’s 15th member, Monica Rodriguez, was absent. Harris-Dawson will assume the role on Sept. 20, when current council President Paul Krekorian is set to step aside.
“Until September, expect to see me with my head down, studying as hard as we can so we can be as prepared as possible when we take leadership of this council,” Harris-Dawson said after the vote.
Harris-Dawson has represented the 8th district in South L.A. since 2015. He was nominated for council president last week by seven council members, including those in the council’s progressive wing.
Progressives further cement power in city hall
Fernando Guerra, a political science professor at Loyola Marymount University, said the decision to elevate Harris-Dawson shows that the council is starting to catch up with L.A.’s increasingly left-wing voters.
“This is the most progressive city council in the history of Los Angeles,” Guerra said. “And Marqueece Harris-Dawson will be the most progressive president of the city council in L.A. history.”
(Guerra is an honorary lifetime trustee for Southern California Public Radio, which owns and operates LAist.)
As chair of the planning and land use committee and a member of the housing committee, Harris-Dawson has generally supported expanded tenant rights and eviction protections. On Tuesday, he presented a motion with two of the council’s…
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