At just 15 members, each person elected to the L.A. City Council represents about 260,000 residents within a specific geographic area. So they have a lot of power and seven of the seats are on this ballot.
A Note On The Results
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The California Secretary of State's Office certified the final vote tallies on April 12, marking an official end to the March 5, 2024 Primary Election.
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Voter Game Plan will be back in the fall to help you prepare for the Nov. 5 General Election.
District 2
Current council member Paul Krekorian has been in office for 14 years, but can’t run again because of term limits. District 2 has the most Armenian American voters in the city; three of the seven contenders are Armenian American candidates who were running to replace Krekorian, who is also Armenian American. Key issues include the housing shortage, green space, and mass transit. Adrin Nazarian and Jillian Burgos will face each other in a November runoff.
About The Candidates
Jon-Paul Bird: Bird, a marriage and family therapist, who wants to rezone commercial corridors for more mixed-use and residential construction and supports unarmed response teams to help unhoused people experiencing mental health crises.
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Jillian Burgos: Burgos, an optician, who wants to make housing more affordable by cracking down on illegal short-term rentals and improving pedestrian and cyclist safety.
Marin Ghandilyan: Ghandilyan is an attorney favors implementing “smart city technologies” in L.A., including smart traffic systems.
Manny Gonez: Gonez is an environmental and housing advocate who supports stricter gun safety laws and wants to expedite the building of all housing.
Sam Kbushyan: Kbushyan, a government relations professional who runs his own business, supports converting vacant hotels and commercial buildings into housing and improve pedestrian and cyclist safety by reducing on arterial streets.
Rudy Melendez: Melendez did not respond to our survey.
Adrin Nazarian: Nazarian, a former state Assembly member, wants to boost recruitment of LAPD officers and envisions Metro stations in the district as hubs for development.
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District 4
Current Councilmember Nithya Raman ran successfully for a second term against two challengers: Levon 'Lev' Baronian and Ethan Weaver. Housing affordability and homelessness are key issues in a recently-redrawn district, where a large number of constituents never had the opportunity to vote for Raman before.
About The Candidates
Levon 'Lev' Baronian: Baronian is a software engineer who has served on the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council. He formerly worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Nithya Raman: Raman was first elected to the city council in 2020, and this is her first reelection campaign. Her previous work included roles as an urban planner and as the executive director of Time's Up Entertainment.
Ethan Weaver: Weaver is a deputy city attorney who graduated from UCLA Law. He has highlighted his personal story as a gay man who grew up in a deeply religious household with parents holding anti-LGBT beliefs.
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District 6
Incumbent councilmember Imelda Padilla was first elected to the L.A. city council in 2023 to replace Nury Martinez, the former council president who resigned over racist comments she made that were leaked in 2022. Padilla successfully headed off challenges from candidates Ely De La Cruz Ayao and Carmenlina Minasova.
About The Candidates
Ely De La Cruz Ayao: De La Cruz Ayao is a retired real estate broker who says his professional experience could aid in spurring more affordable housing across the city.
Carmenlina Minasova: Carmenlina Minasova works as a respiratory therapist and describes herself as an advocate for unhoused people, rescue animals, and neighborhood safety.
Imelda Padilla: Padilla has represented District 6 since July 2023. She previously worked as a field deputy in former councilmember Nury Martinez’s office and did community outreach work for the L.A. County Women and Girls Initiative.
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District 8
Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson fended off two challengers to win a third and final term representing South L.A. where economic development, homelessness, public safety are key issues.
About The Candidates
Jahan Epps: Epps, a real estate agent, identifies housing discrimination and mortage financing, to be barriers to housing for Black and Latino residents. He wants to see harsher punishments for unsafe drivers.
Marqueece Harris-Dawson: Harris-Dawson, a current council member, wants to help the housing crunch by streamlining the permitting process, and boost economic development through apprenticeship and workforce training programs.
Cliff Smith: Smith, a union community organizer, wants to extend voting rights to non-citizens and to stimulate new housing construction through avenues like a vacancy tax on empty units.
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District 10
Council member Heather Hutt, who was appointed to the District 10 seat, faced four other candidates in her bid to seek a full elected term to represent a district that includes Koreatown, Mid-City and West Adams, where homelessness and affordable housing are top of mind for residents. She will face Grace Yoo in a November runoff.
About The Candidates
Eddie Anderson: The pastor and community organizer wants to make mental health workers a requirement on crisis response teams and gang intervention programs. He also says the district-by-district approach to land use leads to corruption.
Heather Hutt: Hutt, who was appointed to the role in September 2022, has pushed for a five-year capital improvement plan for transportation during her time on the council and wants to implement an “unarmed traffic response” team."
Reggie Jones-Sawyer: Jones-Sawyer, an assemblyman, said he wants to prevent crime through measures like drug prevention programs and mental health counseling, and to get funds to people at risk of falling into homelessness.
Aura Vásquez: Vasquez, an environmental activist, wants to improve housing affordability through efforts like repurposing city-owned buildings and supporting community land trusts. She supports more community watch programs to improve public safety.
Grace Yoo: Yoo, a lawyer and community advocate, says abandoned commercial buildings should be converted into affordable housing. Police, she said, should be paired with mental health clinicians in certain crises.
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District 12
Council member John Lee ran for re-election amid accusations by a city ethics commission that he accepted illegal gifts, which he denies. His challenger, Serena Oberstein, used to serve on that same ethics board. He won outright because he had more than 50% of the vote.
About The Candidates
John S. Lee: Lee, the incumbent, has supported allowing higher rent increases and opposed an affordable housing proposal that would be funded by voter-approved bond money. He has most aggressively enforced L.A.’s anti-camping ordinance than any other council member, while supporting the addition of 300 temporary shelter beds in his district.
Serena Oberstein: Oberstein, is an executive at a nonprofit, wants to streamline affordable housing production on land owned by religious organizations. She also wants to expand a community policing program to improve relations between law enforcement and community leaders.
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District 14
Council member Kevin De León faced seven challengers who range from current assembly members to local attorneys, while defending his right to keep the seat after having been secretly recorded having a racist conversation with former colleagues on the city council. He will face Ysabel J. Jurado in a November runoff.
About The Candidates
Wendy Carrillo: Carrillo is a Democratic member of the State Assembly, representing the 52nd District, which stretches from East L.A. to Glendale. She was first elected in 2017.
Kevin de León: De León has been District 14’s council member since 2020. He served in the California State Senate from 2010 to 2018, eventually becoming the leader of the senate. He faced widespread calls to resign after a secret recording was released in 2022 revealing a conversation between him, two other councilmembers and a labor leader using frank and racist terms to discuss how to use the city’s redistricting process to amass more power.
Nadine M. Diaz: Diaz is a geriatric social worker at USC’s Memory and Aging Center and a board member of the Council on Aging for the L.A. City Department of Aging.
Genny Guerrero: Guerrero is a small business owner and longtime community activist. She was a field deputy to former L.A. City Councilmember Jose Huizar, who represented the district before being convicted of corruption and racketeering in 2020.
Teresa Y. Hillery: Hillery is a trial attorney and a trustee of the L.A. County Bar Association. She sits on the Downtown L.A. Neighborhood Council and is a pro bono attorney with Christian Legal Aid of Los Angeles.
Ysabel Jurado: Jurado is a tenants rights attorney and affordable housing activist.
Miguel Santiago: Santiago is a Democratic member of the State Assembly who represents the 54th district, which stretches from Montebello and Commerce through Boyle Heights and downtown L.A. to Koreatown. He was first elected in 2014.
Eduardo 'Lalo' Vargas: Vargas teaches science at Franklin High School in Highland Park. He identifies himself as a tenants organizer and a socialist candidate for office.
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