Los Angeles City Council District 14 candidate Ysabel Jurado launched a wide-reaching canvassing campaign in Boyle Heights Saturday with support from several influential Latina leaders.
Iconic labor leader and civil rights activist Dolores Huerta, L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis, and L.A. City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez stood in solidarity with Jurado, who was greeted by an all-women mariachi at the Boyle Heights office of Women’s March Action, a political organization working to increase representation of women in government.
“We need to knock on every door, talk with every neighbor, make sure this community shows up. This isn’t just about me. This isn’t just about this election. It’s about our future,” Jurado told several dozen volunteers gearing up to get the word out about her campaign.
Jurado, a tenant rights activist and attorney, has never held political office. Still, her pledges to invest in affordable housing and reimagine public safety in the district were enough for voters to put her on top in the March primary. She will face incumbent Kevin de León in November.
Solis, whose county district represents much of the 14th City Council District, told the crowd she was committed to working with the political hopeful to better the lives of the constituents they would share. She said Jurado’s background and primary performance blew her away.
“She didn’t have all the money, but she had all the army. She had the gente with her. She had the people with her, and the people power,” Solis said.
Huerta stressed the need for everyone in the neighborhood to go to the polls in November and vote for someone she endorses as a community-focused leader.
“We have to have somebody out there that knows what power is, and that the power actually comes from the people, and the power has to go back to the people,” she said.
Jurado largely calls her campaign a “women-led movement” and attributes her success to the women who paved the way before her, Solis and Huerta included. She told those in attendance that defying what was expected of her in the primaries only fueled her campaign across the district.
“We know what it’s like to rise up in the face of doubt. To defy expectation and to show and prove to people that we belong here. Today, we make a statement that women, but especially women of color, are not just part of the conversation, we are leading the conversation,” Jurado said.
If Jurado were elected, she’d be the first woman and person of Filipino descent to represent the district. The endorsements of two influential Latinas – Solis and Huerta – may prove effective at the polls in a region that is nearly 70% Latino. A November win for Jurado would also mark a significant shift in a district that’s been represented by male Latino leadership since Richard Alatorre won the seat in 1985.
For Elsie Garcia, an organizer with Boyle Heights Vota, a grassroots movement leading Saturday’s canvassing effort, too much is at stake in the community to not get involved.
“Unfortunately, we have very low voter turnout in general. If you look at the district, the disparities that exist between Boyle Heights and Eagle Rock and Highland Park are huge. We are a large working-class, immigrant community and are hit hardest when things happen,” Garcia said.
After speeches came to a close, Garcia began a short presentation to train eager canvassers the dos and don’ts of working on the ground in Boyle Heights. She said that politicians going door-to-door is crucial to mobilizing voters.
“The need here is so big, but the representation doesn’t match that. Because people are so disappointed in that, they also don’t turn out to vote,” she added.
Garza, a Boyle Heights resident who only shared his last name, came to support Jurado at the canvass launch driving a car emblazoned with messages like “Vote!” and “Ysabel Jurado for CD 14.”
The 33-year-old said he felt like Jurado’s upbringing and work as an activist set her apart from the incumbent.
“It’s her story. She’s genuine, she’s authentic,” Garza said. “She knows what the community needs.”
If she unseats De León, he said, Jurado and the other progressive members of the city council would have no trouble “making great change for the entire city.”
