Welcome to the final edition of The Election Beat, a weekly newsletter bringing you news and information about the election, and uplifting the voices of readers like you. Our work is possible because of reader support.
Hola Boyle Heights,
Has it really been a week since Election Day?
I hope you’ve had time to breathe, unplug or maybe binge-watch trashy TV. After all, you’ve done a lot.
You elected Ysabel Jurado as your new L.A. City Councilmember for District 14, chose new leaders in state races and voted to expand the L.A. County Board of Supervisors.
At Boyle Heights Beat, our mission is to keep you informed and make your voices heard. Our work doesn’t stop now, but it is time for this newsletter to wrap up.
We’ll continue bringing you stories on our website and social media accounts about how voters’ decisions will impact Eastside residents. Keep in touch by signing up for our newsletter Happenings in the Heights.
For now, here’s a roundup of how we covered the election and how your community participation played a role:
Community-centered approach
The Election Beat survey: Nearly 500 of you responded to our bilingual survey where we asked about top concerns. This survey was a crucial part of our mission to produce journalism that reflects your needs. It helped guide our reporting and develop questions to ask CD 14 candidates.
CD 14 candidate forum and other events: More than 300 people attended our forum, hosted in partnership with Proyecto Pastoral. Community members had the opportunity to hear from their local candidates before casting their votes. At other engagement events we listened to your needs and learned how we could help you navigate through the election process.
Reporting powered by you: From voter guides, Q&As with experts, candidate profiles and features, we aimed to keep you informed and engaged throughout the election. Yes, we spoke to candidates, but we also focused on uplifting the voices of residents like you – those who are the most affected by policies and leadership. We heard from senior citizens to first-time voters, those who were “uncommitted,” and those who simply wanted to be heard. We were also there on Election Day hearing about your anxieties, sharing live results and reporting from election night watch parties for both CD 14 candidates.
Youth team: Our youth reporters researched candidates, wrote election stories and took on roles of reporting, photography and even moderating at the CD 14 forum. They also produced a podcast curating voices of residents we interviewed leading up to the election. Our reporters spent time with a group of retirees enjoying their morning cafecito at McDonald’s in Boyle Heights, with señoras getting their hair done at a neighborhood beauty salon, with parents out at CicLAvia and with bar-goers at Distrito Catorce. Listen to the podcast here.
What we learned
We filled the gaps in news information: Some of our most read stories were those found by people actively searching for information on races no one else was covering, like California Assembly Districts 52 and 54, and U.S. House District 34 – all of which cover the Eastside. While these races weren’t consequential and would not determine the balance of power in government, people on the Eastside still needed to be informed about their choices.
Collaborating with media partners is key: Working with media partners at the L.A. Local News Initiative proved to be a success. We were able to republish voter guides and other stories to bring you even more information leading up to the election. We also partnered for a VoterChat event to help voters understand their ballots and navigate their voter game plan.
Stronger surveying is needed: We surveyed people across CD 14 at farmers markets, neighborhood council meetings and community events. While most of our results came from Boyle Heights residents, in the future, we hope to improve our outreach strategies to include more residents who live in other parts of the district, including Highland Park, El Sereno and Eagle Rock.
More election results
By now you know the big races have been decided. If you need to catch up on results, here’s a quick list of the latest:
Winners include:
Assembly District 52: Jessica Caloza
Assembly District: Mark Gonzalez
U.S. House District 34: Jimmy Gomez
Measure G: Expands the L.A. County Board of Supervisors (Passed)
Measure A: Creating a 1/2 cent sales tax to fund homelessness and housing in L.A. County (Passed)
For more results, we’ve curated some of the races and ballot measures we were tracking here.
Thank you, readers
And now a message from our community engagement director, Kevin Martinez:
We want to thank you for engaging with us these past couple of months. Whether it was participating in our Election Beat survey, attending our CD 14 candidate forum, or reading and sharing our stories on local issues and races, this work wouldn’t have been possible without you. We aim to make our coverage collaborative by prioritizing and empowering community participation. After all, we are noticias por y para la comunidad.
Missed the previous newsletters? Here’s an archive:
¡Hasta luego, Boyle Heights!
Jessica Perez,
Senior Editor
