The newest elected members of the L.A. City Council began their terms this week, including Ysabel Jurado who will represent Boyle Heights in District 14.
Jurado was sworn in a week after results for the Nov. 5 general election were officially certified in Los Angeles County. A total of 3,793,106 ballots were processed and tallied with 66.12% of eligible voters casting ballots in the county, according to the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk.
So how much did CD 14 candidates raise and spend for each vote? Jurado defeated the area’s incumbent Kevin de León despite being outraised and outspent overall.
During the general election through Oct. 30, De León raised $474,961.86 according to campaign finance totals from the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission. Jurado raised $355,791.18.
Accounting for matching funds of $197,383.70 during this time frame, De León’s campaign is estimated to have spent a total of $672,345.56. With $217,000.00 in matching funds, Jurado’s team is estimated to have spent $572,791.86.
Based on final counts by the L.A. County Registrar certified on Dec. 3, Jurado secured 46,007 votes, more than 10% of De León’s 34,472 votes. That means the political newcomer, who will be the first woman and openly queer person to lead the predominantly Latino district, got more bang for her buck per vote than her opponent in the City Council’s most heated race this year.
To break that down, De León raised about $13.78 and spent about $19.50 for every vote received. Jurado spent less for more votes, with $7.73 raised and about $12.45 spent per ballot.
According to a report by the nonprofit newsroom Crosstown, De León spent the most per vote out of six candidates running for three seats on the L.A. City Council in the general election. The former councilmember finished his term last week after having led the CD 14 since 2020.
Please note: In order to calculate the totals spent, we added matching funds available to candidates to the total amounts each raised for their campaigns. The estimated spending per vote is based on the assumption that every dollar available was spent. Final fundraising and spending figures are expected in early 2025.
