A referendum on a more rehabilitative, less punitive approach to criminal justice got its latest test in Los Angeles County on Tuesday, with the county leading. Atty. George Gascón faced a large field of opponents who promised either more moderate reforms or a return to more stringent law enforcement.
The 11 contenders to be DA have created the hottest race in the county, with a large field and significant dissatisfaction with Gascón, preventing anyone from winning a majority, setting up an expected November runoff between the front runners.
Tuesday's election also put nearly half the seats on the Los Angeles City Council and a majority of the five-member county Board of Supervisors before voters, along with the question of who will replace two esteemed members of the Los Angeles School Board and a ballot measure aimed at bringing about a significant amount of change. Reshaping traffic patterns in Los Angeles.
The citizen-sponsored measure HLA would take road projects that have languished for years on the drawing boards and push them toward reality — adding more than 600 miles of bike lanes and 200 miles of bus lanes around the city.
Among the many projects the measure identifies are protected bike lanes at Sunset and Venice boulevards, and a bus lane connecting Whittier Avenue in Boyle Heights to 6th Street downtown, then to Wilshire Boulevard west of the 110 Freeway.
Approval of the HLA would effectively accelerate the city's ambitious mobility plan, which calls for special improvements every time the city repaves an eighth of a mile or more of a street. Although some of the plans would limit automobile traffic, they also identify about 80 miles of roads where efficient vehicle travel would be a priority.
HLA proponents say it will enhance multiple forms of transportation and make streets safer by slowing down cars. Opponents assert that this measure will create unintended danger by slowing down emergency vehicles. The cost of implementing the proposal has also drawn a sharp divide: The city's top budget official said it would cost at least $3.1 billion to implement the proposal, while supporters say it would cost much less.
Perhaps the most closely watched of the seven Los Angeles City Council contests was the re-election bid of Nithya Raman, a progressive whose election four years ago helped heighten interest on the City Council in tenants' rights and crime-reduction tactics that do not rely solely on tenants' rights. On the police.
Raman had to focus on more than politics during her first term. She fended off a recall attempt that never made it to the ballot and now faces a bid for a second term in a district whose boundaries have been dramatically redrawn in a way that has reduced the number of liberal-leaning tenants overall. Parcels of the Fourth District: densely rented areas such as Park La Brea. Added: Single-family home retreats such as Encino and parts of Studio City and Reseda.
In the most expensive council race this year, City Rep. Atty. Ethan Weaver has positioned himself as a moderate alternative.
Raman has clearly distinguished herself from Weaver and some of her current colleagues by opposing a city ordinance prohibiting homeless encampments near schools. The councilwoman also voted against the Los Angeles Police Department's pay raise package. Weaver supports police increases, along with a law limiting homeless encampment locations.
The city councilwoman, who lives in Silver Lake, had the distinction in 2020 of becoming the first member of the Democratic Socialists of America to unseat a city council incumbent. The leftward tilt at City Hall proved to be more than an anomaly two years later when three other candidates won with significant help from DSA volunteers — now-incumbent Council members Hugo Soto Martinez and Eunice Hernandez and City Controller Kenneth Mejia.
Weaver sought to portray the DSA as too “radical” for the region. Raman responded that she was a “pragmatic progressive.” Her vote for Mayor Karen Bass's budget, which called for the hiring of 1,000 police officers, was not well received by some on the left.
Another high-profile contest in the city of Los Angeles puts Councilman Kevin de León before voters for the first time since a secret recording caught him, two other council members and a labor leader engaged in an inflammatory and racist debate about how to gerrymander political districts in Los Angeles. Los Angeles
The October 2021 recording, leaked a year later, led to multiple calls for de Leon to resign, but he took office representing the 14th District, which includes northeast Los Angeles. The seven candidates vying to replace him include two former state Assembly members, a DSA-backed activist, a high school science teacher, a real estate attorney, a geriatric social worker and a nonprofit consultant.
In Los Angeles County, three incumbents are running for re-election to the Board of Supervisors.
After serving in the State Senate and one term in the County Council, Holly Mitchell became the establishment candidate in the 2nd District. The incumbent is touting endorsements from PASS, labor unions and the Sierra Club.
The county's 4th District is home to Supervisor Janice Hahn, part of a political dynasty that has been led by her father, Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, for four decades, and also includes her brother, the former city comptroller, city attorney and mayor.
Hahn has attracted a well-known and controversial opponent, former Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who declined to oversee his department and lost his re-election bid in a landslide in 2022. Joining the two on the ballot was John Cruikshank, who served seven years. As a council member and mayor of Rancho Palos Verdes.
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The 5th Supervisory District, which reaches the northern end of the county, has been represented since 2016 by Katherine Barger. Although a Republican, Barger has the support of labor unions, including SEIU Local 721 and the Assn. Los Angeles Sheriff's Deputies, who represent the rank-and-file members of the Sheriff's Department. She also has the endorsement of a family planning advocacy group.
The challenger with the highest political profile is Chris Holden, a Democrat who represents Pasadena in the State Assembly and who was forced out of that position due to term limits. Holden also has significant labor support, including from two SEIU locals.
The Los Angeles Board of Education will be reshaped by Tuesday's election, as two important political and education figures — Jackie Goldberg and George McKenna — will retire at the end of the year. 18 candidates are competing to fill one of the four seats on the ballot. Most races are likely to be settled in a runoff in November.
The outcome will determine whether the board majority will be more or less supportive of charters, which are privately run, mostly non-union public schools. The district faces financial uncertainty due to declining enrollment and the expiration of pandemic relief aid, as it tries to boost student achievement.
Times staff writer Howard Bloom contributed to this report.
