Ysabel Jurado, the first-time candidate who made a case for change in a district plagued by scandal and controversy, has declared victory in the race for Los Angeles City Council District 14.
Jurado, a tenant rights attorney, was running against incumbent Kevin de León who conceded Friday in the race to represent Boyle Heights, El Sereno, Highland Park and downtown L.A.
“I want to express my deepest gratitude to the people of Council District 14 for the honor of serving these past four years, and to my supporters who have stood by me with unwavering dedication to ensure our communities thrived,” De León said in a statement. “I extend my congratulations to Ysabel Jurado on a well-fought campaign and wish her success in leading our district forward.”
The latest returns from the L.A. County Registrar’s office showed Jurado with 36,019, or about 56% of the vote, while De León received 28,019 votes, or about 44% of the vote.
Live CD 14 results chart courtesy of LAist.
“I am humbled to officially declare victory in the race for Los Angeles City Council District 14. This win is not mine—it belongs to our community,” Jurado said in a statement on Thursday. “It was the community that made their voices loud and clear: Trumpism has no place in CD-14 – and we proved that by resoundingly rejecting the divisive tactics deployed by our opponent – tactics adopted directly from the Trump playbook.”
Jurado — who is queer and was raised in Highland Park — secured the win even as she faced backlash after an audio recording captured her saying, “F— the police,” which she said she quoted from a song in response to a question about her stance on police abolition. She ran to the left of De León, who dubbed himself as the less risky choice after painting Jurado as a “socialist” who wants to “defund the police.”
“They called me a radical extremist, but also a sellout, a gentrifier, a dyke, a mentirosa, a quejona, the ‘B’ word, the ‘F’ word, the ‘C’ word, and every homophobic, racist, sexist, depraving slur in the book,” Jurado said Tuesday night at Block Party in Highland Park, where she gathered with supporters as early results showed her leading the race. “It takes a whole lot more than that to scare us out of standing up for our community.”
The CD 14 race became one of the most closely watched races in the city, leading to a fierce battle between the candidates who often threw jabs and insults at each other at live debates and on social media.
Jurado’s victory came as De León’s political career was upended following the 2022 audio leak scandal where he and other city leaders were heard engaged in a racist and derogatory conversation largely about expanding Latino political power.
Jurado will become the first person of Filipino American to serve on the City Council and the first leader of non-Latino descent to lead the 14th District since 1985. She will also represent a district with a history of controversy and corruption. Before De León, the Eastside district was led by José Huizar, who was sentenced to 13 years in federal prison earlier this year after being convicted in a federal corruption case.
READ MORE: Boyle Heights and Latinos play a central role in Ysabel Jurado’s bid to unseat Kevin de León
On Tuesday, Jurado arrived at her election night watch party wearing a hot pink suit, hot pink pointy heels, hoop earrings and a necklace of Saint Michael the Archangel that her father gave her “to prepare me for battle,” she said. Supporters chanted “Ysabel, Ysabel!” as she prepared to address the crowd from a podium.
Jurado thanked the women who helped her campaign, including volunteers from Boyle Heights, as well as her aunts, or “titas,” as she referred to them, “who were making handwritten letters and passing them out to people wherever they can go.” Jurado, a single mom, will be the first woman to represent the Eastside district on the city council level.
“Our campaign flower is an orchid,” Jurado said. “It is [the] resilient nature of an orchid that allows them to thrive in diverse environments if they are properly cared for…. That mirrors our own journey and the story of CD 14. Despite being abandoned by our leadership, despite the challenges thrown our way, like the orchid we have managed to stand strong,” said Jurado, who noted the orchid is native to the Philippines.
Idalmis Vaquero, 30, who lives in Little Tokyo and grew up in public housing in Boyle Heights’ Estrada Courts, said Jurado has a “vision for change” to address issues that matter to “working-class people.”
A big issue of concern for Vaquero, who is a runner, is the lack of adequate street lighting and infrastructure.
“There’s a lot of streets that haven’t been repaired in a long time. It’s really dangerous to even run outside at night because you can trip very easily,” Vaquero said at Jurado’s watch party. “I want somebody who can see that there’s many parts in our district that don’t have the lights on and it affects our safety.”
READ MORE: Live election results: Statewide and local races we’re following
Jurado’s first order of business? Looking into fixing the lights of the Sixth Street Bridge, she told Boyle Heights Beat on Tuesday night.
“When you go off Figueroa, there’s a sign on each light that says, ‘out of service, call this number.’ You call that number, nothing happens. So bringing back basic city services to our community, and expanding our listening tour,” Jurado said.
“Campaigning is hard. You don’t get to talk to everyone, but as a council member, you have to govern everyone, and so hearing what the stakeholders have to say,” she added.
During her campaign, Jurado, who comes with a background in advocacy and supporting renters, often spoke about moving back home with her dad after law school and seeing neighbors and businesses pushed out of Highland Park due to skyrocketing rents. “I really love this place. I don’t want it to change in ways that would hurt my community,” Jurado said of her decision to run for City Council.
Jurado is an advocate of decommodified housing — meaning housing no longer sold for profit on the private market — and has called for community and tenant-owned models to ensure affordability. She envisions pushing for opportunities that would allow residents or mission-driven organizations, “the right of first offer for the building,” Jurado said, “so that we can keep the community at the forefront of these development conversations.”
Jurado secured endorsements from the Los Angeles County Democratic Party and the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. She earned the support of prominent leaders like Carlos Montes, a fixture of the 1968 Walkouts, who co-founded the Brown Berets in East L.A. She boasted the support of First Street businesses like Distrito Catorce and Street Tacos and Grill.
She was also endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, which has called for defunding the Los Angeles Police Department. Jurado, at a recent debate forum inside Dolores Mission Catholic Church, said she has never stated she supports defunding the police. She noted during the forum that police often have to act as marriage counselors and mental health workers.
“That shouldn’t be the case,” she said. “We should be creating good union jobs in the city and the county and working together to make sure that our first responders are folks that are equipped with that, so that the police can focus on the most violent crime, which we know in this community is gang violence.”
Jurado told LAist she favors shifting some money from the police department to other city services like youth development and training, adding that she would have voted against Mayor Karen Bass’ budget for this fiscal year that funded an increase in the size of the LAPD. Jurado said she would have voted against a labor contract that provided raises to police officers.
Downtown L.A. resident Justin Curran, who grew up in Highland Park and attended Tuesday’s election night party, canvassed for Jurado’s campaign and said he agrees with her stance on policing and public safety.
“Thinking about rehabilitation, mental health services, and drug treatment as opposed to criminalization that has failed us over and over again,” said Curran, 26, who believes the police budget is “over inflated.” Money could be better used for youth development and parks, he said.
To Angelica Pizarro, who is Jurado’s godmother, it was her goddaughter’s honesty that won people.
“I’m so proud of her. She came out of nowhere. At first I thought, ‘OK, your first time out. I’m excited for you. Get your name out there.’ But, she was really serious about it, mobilized a grassroots campaign that really connected with the constituents,” said Pizarro, who grew up in Highland Park, and now lives in Glassell Park.
“She knows the community,” Pizarro added. “She came in and she’s so honest and true and I think everyone can see themselves in her.”
This article was updated Friday at 5:30 p.m. to reflect De León’s concession.
