In early returns for Los Angeles City Council District 14, tenant rights attorney Ysabel Jurado led incumbent Kevin de León Tuesday night.
While votes were still being counted, the latest results from the L.A. County Registrar’s office at 3:46 a.m. Wednesday showed Jurado had 55.41% of the votes compared with De León’s 44.59%.
Live CD 14 results chart courtesy of LAist.
The race to represent neighborhoods including Boyle Heights, El Sereno, Highland Park and downtown L.A. became one of the most closely watched races in the city, leading to a fierce battle between the candidates.
As the polls promptly closed at 8 p.m. across California, an election watch party for De León was just getting started. The sounds of mariachi strings and gritos blared among a crowd of more than 200 people at the San Antonio Winery in Lincoln Heights.
Karla Solis, 27, was there to show support for De León. She said she voted for the incumbent because she “saw a lot of differences with him in our district.” The Lincoln Heights resident said she was hopeful of a De León victory so he can “continue to do the same” in the community.
READ MORE: Seeking redemption, Kevin de León isn’t backing down
De León was greeted with cheers and the signature “Ke-vin! Ke-vin! Ke-vin!” chants from his most loyal supporters. Although the politician trailed Jurado by around 4,000 votes when he came to the stage, he displayed the same confidence that carried him through recent debates around the district.
Speaking in front of a screen displaying election results, De León rallied supporters.
“We’re going to keep working. The night is not over,” De León told the crowd in Spanish. “There are still votes to count.”
He also lauded his achievements as a council member, including the building of tiny homes for the unhoused and his ongoing support to battle food insecurity among seniors.
“That’s the role of a leader of a politician. To do everything possible to tend to the interests of the people particularly the most marginalized zones, the most vulnerable zones in L.A…. communities like Boyle Heights, El Sereno, Lincoln Heights,” he said.
Among his supporters, family and friends, was former Councilmember Gil Cedillo, who along with De León was embroiled in a 2022 racist audio leak scandal.
Words like “scandal” and “controversy” were far from the lips of supporters at the watch party. De León and his backers were looking forward, seemingly eager to move past the political scandal.
For Highland Park resident Edson Zamarron, community safety and homelessness are among his top concerns. The 23-year-old said he worries about his little brother who walks to school and believes that the incumbent will continue handling public safety and the homeless crisis.
“Overall, he’s been doing a good job and I don’t want someone who’s going to bring some other new ideas that I’m not really aware of. I just have a lot of trust in Kevin de León,” Zamarron said.
Live election results: Trump on the cusp of victory; Jurado leads De León in early results
Five miles away in the CD 14 neighborhood of Highland Park, more than 100 people gathered at Jurado’s election night party. Reggeaton played at the reception held at the bar Block Party as supporters waited for the candidate to make her appearance.
The crowd erupted in cheers in the patio as results started trickling in before 9 p.m., showing Jurado leading De León. Supporters came from Boyle Heights, Little Tokyo, downtown L.A., and others from outside the district who were inspired to help out her campaign. Among them were L.A. City Councilmembers Nithya Raman and Hugo Soto-Martinez, and former councilman Mike Bonin.
READ MORE: Boyle Heights and Latinos play a central role in Ysabel Jurado’s bid to unseat Kevin de León
Jurado arrived shortly before 9:30 p.m. wearing a hot pink suit, hot pink pointy heels and hoop earrings. She posed for photos with various supporters including Carlos Montes, a fixture of the 1968 Walkouts, and stopped to greet one of her supporter’s dogs as she entered the patio.
Supporters chanted “Ysabel, Ysabel!” as she prepared to address the crowd from a podium.
Jurado spoke about her decision to run for office after the audio leak scandal.
“I was furious that once again my community had been betrayed by our leadership. Year after year I’ve seen a charlatan after a charlatan use this district as a stepping stone — my home that I care for and that’s cared for me. I decided to throw my hat in the ring,” Jurado said.
Jurado, who is queer, addressed critics of her campaign and noted the derogatory remarks used against her candidacy.
“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, depraved slur in the book,” she said. “It takes a whole lot more than that to scare us out of standing up for our community.”
Idalmis Vaquero, 30, who lives in Little Tokyo and grew up in Boyle Heights’ Estrada Courts, said Jurado’s campaign spoke to her.
“She has a really good vision for change. We need to address our homelessness crisis, our housing crisis … issues that matter to working-class people,” said Vaquero, who voted for Jurado.
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. “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.”
Jurado, 34, ran as a first-time candidate, often citing the history of city leaders steeped in scandals and corruption. She advocated for more investment into gang prevention and intervention as well as youth programs, libraries and parks to keep communities safe. The Highland Park native, who overcame De León by nearly 400 votes in the primary, also worked with Eastside housing groups to help tenants work to buy the properties they rent.
De León dubbed himself as the less risky choice after painting his opponent as a “socialist” who wants to “defund the police.” During his campaign, he touted a long list of achievements, including food giveaways, the construction of tiny home villages for the unhoused in Boyle Heights and his commitment of millions of dollars to expand green space across the district, including a $25 million renovation plan for Hollenbeck Park.
Votes are still being counted in L.A. County. We will update this story when more information becomes available.
