California Attorney General Rob Bonta wants Los Angeles to draw new council district boundaries after his office expressed concern that Eastside districts lacked Latino representation, according to the Los Angeles Times.
A draft legal document prepared by Bonta’s office and reviewed by The Times, calls for the city to finalize new council district maps in time for the 2026 primary election.
Bonta’s legal team said that the 2021 redistricting map’s configuration of the 1st and 14th council districts, represented by Eunisses Hernandez and Kevin de León, respectively, “do not have a sufficient number of Latino voters to ensure that Latinos have the opportunity to elect the candidate of their choice,” sources told The Times.
Bonta’s team reportedly also discussed the possibility of creating a third “Latino” district in the San Fernando Valley.
According to The Times, the document obtained does not show whether elected city officials have accepted any of Bonta’s demands, including the preparation of a new map that adheres to the federal Voting Rights Act and the state’s Fair Maps Act to ensure Black and Latino voters can elect their preferred candidates.
Bonta has been investigating the L.A. City Council for nearly two years following a leaked audio recording revealing three council members— De León, Nury Martinez, and Gil Cedillo— participating in a conversation that included racist remarks alongside comments on the need to maintain strong Latino representation on the council.
Redistricting, a process that occurs once a decade, involves defining the boundaries of electoral districts for public officials. The way district lines are drawn can determine electoral outcomes and capture shifts in population and racial diversity, allowing legislators to allocate representation equitably.
In the upcoming general election, voters will also decide whether to establish an independent redistricting process in L.A., eliminating any involvement from the council, with implementation set for 2031.
