When a leaked audio revealed in 2022 that Los Angeles City Councilmember Kevin de León had been part of a backroom discussion about redrawing City Council district maps – a conversation laced with racist and derogatory comments – some members of the public and elected officials, including President Joe Biden, called for his immediate resignation.
De León refused to step down and nearly a year later he announced that he would seek reelection in his district which includes much of Downtown Los Angeles as well as Boyle Heights, Lincoln Heights, El Sereno and Northeast L.A.
Many of the seven candidates hoping to unseat de León say residents in Council District 14 have suffered long enough from years of “political corruption” and inappropriate behavior by councilmembers and other City Hall officials.
Of the candidates seeking to oust de León, two are California state assemblymembers – Wendy Carrillo and Miguel Santiago. The five others do not hold political office. They include Nadine Diaz, a geriatric social worker and professor; Genny Guerrero, a small business owner; Teresa Hillery, an attorney; Ysabel Jurado, a tenant rights attorney; and Eduardo “Lalo” Vargas, a Los Angeles Unified school teacher.
If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote in the March 5 primary election, the top two vote-getters will face off in the November general election.
Below is a primer on the history of City Council District 14, who the candidates are and their top issues. The information was pulled from interviews with the candidates, their written responses to a questionnaire or from their websites.
The history of CD14
Many of City Council District 14’s residents live in a large swath of downtown L.A. – which includes the wealthy in luxury skyscraper condos and the poor in Skid Row, the epicenter of the city’s homeless and Fentanyl addiction crises. To the north and east of downtown L.A., District 14 is a mix of working- and middle-class…
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