Ysabel Jurado leads race for the majority-Latino District 14

Update: Ysabel Jurado is now leading the election results for District 14 with 24.46% of the votes, compared to 23.49% of votes for Kevin de León.

That means Jurado will move on to a run-off election against De León.

The morning of March 5th, also known as primary election day, Ysabel Jurado, a frontrunner in the race for Los Angeles City Council District 14, cast her vote at the historic Arroyo Seco Library. Jurado arrived at the library minutes after 7 a.m. and was the third person to cast her vote in person at this location—a place where she would come to study so many times.

“This is just a full circle moment for me,” Jurado told CALÒ News after receiving her “I Voted" sticker.

This primary election is particularly important and special for Jurado, who is one of the eight candidates listed on the ballot for CD-14, a district that is home to approximately 265,000 people, 70% of them Latino.

Although incumbents running for office are usually most likely to have a greater advantage over new candidates, for CD-14 this might not be the case. The district is currently represented by Kevin de León, who is seeking re-election but who is also one of the city leaders caught on tape making racist and homophobic statements with other Latino political leaders in 2021. De León is the only person on tape who remains in public office, regardless of consistent calls for him to resign.

Jurado, the tenant's rights attorney, affordable housing activist, single mom and daughter of undocumented Filipino immigrants, hopes to bring a new vision and life to communities that make up CD-14, such as El Sereno, Boyle Heights, Eagle Rock, parts of Lincoln Heights and most of downtown LA, including the Historic Core, the Civic Center, Little Tokyo, the Arts District, and Skid Row.

Jurado told CALÒ News that she is extremely proud of the campaign that she and her team have launched. “We did something completely grassroots and just really rebelled against the systems that don't serve us,” she said. “It's time for a candidate like me on the City Council because what we have now has not been working for us; we can't keep electing the same folks and expecting different results.

After casting her vote early in the day, Jurado’s day consisted of a series of canvassing lunches, small-business crawls and meet-and-greets all around the district. Her day ended with an election block party night party in Highland Park, where she was born and raised.

Housing insecurity, homelessness and gentrification are some of the biggest issues impacting the 14th District. According to the Homeless Count by City of LA Council District (2015-2020 and 2022) in CD-14, there were more than 9,200 people homeless in the district on a given night, more than any other individual council district in L.A.

In addition, according to the City Controller’s Office, residents of this district are also evicted more often than residents of any other district. From February through December 2023, there were more than 10,000 eviction notices issued in this district and more than 300 people who were unhoused died in the 14th District in 2022.

Jurado said if she is granted a seat in the City Council, she will work with her fellow council members to fight for residents of CD-14 who for a long time have experienced a tidal wave of gentrification and displacement and will push for a Boyle Heights Community Plan update, which according to her will prioritize housing rights and stop demolitions. “We need to preserve Boyle Heights, one of our most historic Latino communities in California,” she said.

As stated on her campaign website, Juardo looks to enhance code enforcement efforts, ensuring that landlords are held accountable for maintaining safe and habitable living conditions, pass forward legislation that can help build affordable housing and invest in community resource hubs that offer shelter, meals, and wraparound services like mental health counseling, job training, and social support to CD-14 residents. She also plans to establish regular town halls and community meetings where tenants can voice their concerns, questions and ideas.

Jurado attended Pasadena City College and the University of California, Los Angeles, (UCLA), where she completed her bachelor’s degree. After graduating, she went on to the UCLA School of Law, where she graduated with a Juris Doctorate with specializations in Critical Race Studies and the David J. Epstein Program in Public Interest Law and Policy.

Jurado said it’s time for someone who lives in the community and truly understands the challenges of CD-14 to “steer the ship.”

“My lived experiences as a daughter of undocumented immigrants and a single teen mom on food stamps who was trying to get a piece of the American dream are, I think, something that resonates with the immigrant communities here in L.A., especially ones that want to be safe from exploitation at work, safe from displaced eviction at their homes, and safe to raise their families,” she said. “Those are the things that I'm fighting for. I'm fighting for us.”

Besides De León, Jurado is running against Genny Guerrero, a member of the L.A. Police Department Hollenbeck Division Community Police Advisory Board since 2013 and a field deputy to former L.A. City Councilmember Jose Huizar; Teresa Hillery, a trial attorney and a trustee of the L.A. County Bar Association; Wendy Carrillo, a Democratic member of the State Assembly representing the 52nd District; Eduardo 'Lalo' Vargas, a Public School Teacher at Franklin High School, part of the Party for Socialism and Liberation; and Miguel Santiago, current California Assemblymember who represents the 54th Congressional District, which stretches from Montebello and Commerce through Boyle Heights and downtown L.A. to Koreatown.