Kevin de León, of the L.A. racist tape leak, is headed toward defeat

Kevin de León sits in city hall chambers.

Nov. 10, 2024 6:30 AM PT

Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Sunday. I’m your host, Andrew J. Campa. Here’s what you need to know to start your weekend:

Councilmember Kevin de León is heading toward defeat.
Trump vs. Harris: Whom did your neighborhood vote for?
L.A. faces pressure to pay more for homeless services.
And here’s today’s e-newspaper

Los Angeles City Council racist leak eventually catches up to Kevin de León

In November 2018, Kevin de León’s insurgent candidacy for the U.S. Senate resulted in a defeat to Dianne Feinstein, the legendary and groundbreaking San Francisco politician.

At the time, De León was completing his term in the state Senate, had risen to president pro tempore, and even earned the endorsement of the California Democratic Party.

He finished with just over 5 million votes and the future looked bright for a still relatively young (then 51) but experienced lawmaker.

As of Saturday morning, De León tallied a little more than 28,000 votes, likely on his way to defeat in the smaller but important Los Angeles City Council District 14 race. He conceded on Friday.

His likely defeat will conclude a dark chapter in Los Angeles politics tied to his involvement in the November 2022 Los Angeles City Council audio leak that included racist comments and insults against Black people, Oaxacans, Jews, Armenians and others. The reworking of the city’s redistricting process in favor of Latinos was also talked about in detail.

Within days, council President Nury Martinez and Ron Herrera, L.A. County Federation of Labor president, resigned while city Councilmember Gil Cedillo left office within weeks, having lost his reelection campaign.

De León was the lone survivor, not up for reelection for more than a year. Yet, he ultimately will not advance to a second term, leaving a once impressive career in flux.

De León championed more Latino political power, but ended up shrinking their reach

My colleagues David Zahniser and Dakota Smith detailed a familiar theme for De León throughout his campaign: persevering and expanding Latino power.

De León was captured on the recording saying he wanted to make sure his Eastside district “remains Latino” even after he’s gone. He bemoaned the lack of political clout wielded by Latinos in L.A., especially when compared with the Black community.

Ironically, his defeat in Tuesday’s election after a single four-year term will leave Latinos occupying just four of the council’s 15 seats — at a time when they make up about half of the city’s population.

Tenant rights attorney Ysabel Jurado declared victory over De León on Thursday, with a widening double-digit lead in a district stretching from downtown to Eagle Rock. She will be the first Filipino American to serve on the City Council.

Jurado’s victory means that the 14th District, with heavily Mexican American areas such as Boyle Heights and El Sereno, will not have a Latino representative for the first time since 1985.

The Eastside just wanted to move away from the scandal

Jurado said her victory will allow the city to “finally close this chapter in L.A. history and move past the tapes.”

Throughout the campaign, Jurado hammered De León over his participation in the secretly recorded conversation, which took place in 2021 and became public in 2022.

De León apologized in 2022, and while running for reelection, for what he said and what he didn’t say during the conversation. In legal filings, however, he was defiant, saying he “never made any comment that was even remotely offensive.”

Jurado said she disagreed with De León’s emphasis on shoring up Latino power, which she said “sowed racial division.”

A candidate who represented them

The daughter of unauthorized immigrants, Jurado said her life story — she grew up in Highland Park, became a single mom at 18 and relied on food stamps — resonated throughout the district.

“We built a big tent — a multigenerational, multiracial, multiethnic coalition of people, which just reflected my upbringing,” she said.

City Councilman Hugo Soto-Martínez, who campaigned for Jurado, said she talked about issues that Latinos care about, such as the need for “good union jobs.”

“Her immigrant story resonated with the Latino community,” he said.

For more on this developing story, check out our report.

The week’s biggest stories

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Election 2024 and political fallout

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Next L.A. D.A. to roll back key Gascón policies — and revisit the Menendez brothers case.

Mountain fire and environmental coverage

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Emissions from private jets are skyrocketing. Monitoring them is about to get much harder.
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Policing and the courts

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After Trump’s win, next LAPD chief faces questions about immigration enforcement.

More big stories

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Get unlimited access to the Los Angeles Times. Subscribe here.

Column One

Column One is The Times’ home for narrative and longform journalism. Here’s a great piece from this week:

He preened, he hugged, he shook hands and hobnobbed with legends and politicians. Los Angeles City Councilmember Kevin de León was in full campaign mode two days before Tuesday’s election, when voters would decide whether he deserved a second term. The setting wasn’t a restaurant or a neighborhood street: It was the VIP section of a dedication ceremony in Boyle Heights for a towering set of murals featuring the late Dodgers ace Fernando Valenzuela.

More great reads

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I walked 27.4 miles across L.A. in one day on Washington Boulevard. Here’s what it taught me.
A comic, Trump and Alpha Male walk into an election.
Column: Can MacArthur Park be saved? A look to the past points the way forward.

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to [email protected].

For your weekend

Photo of a man on a background of colorful illustrations like a book, dog, pizza, TV, shopping bag, and more

Going out

🎷 Famed jazz saxophonist and native Angeleno Kamasi Washington tells us why he loves L.A. in his Sunday Funday.
⛪ Philosophical face-offs, debate duels and wordy warfare highlight Scott Beck and Bryan Woods’ “Heretic,” which debuts this weekend.
🚗 Azusa’s Car Show and Toy Drive known as Cruising Back to Route 66 kicks will feature more than 100 classic cars and gets going at 11 a.m.

Staying in

🤠 The hit western “Yellowstone” returns for its midseason premiere following homesteader John Dutton on the Paramount Network.
📚 Here are the Latino authors we’re reading this November, led by Luis Jaramillo’s “The Witches of El Paso.”
🧑‍🍳 Happy National Vanilla Cupcake Day! Here’s a recipe for a moist and sweet tweet that resembles mom’s classic.
✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, Sudoku, word search and arcade games.

L.A. Affairs

Get wrapped up in tantalizing stories about dating, relationships and marriage.

Illustration of a woman and man sitting and facing each other through a window with pink phones on each side

Men no longer look at her as a woman to mold, but rather as someone who didn’t drink, didn’t smoke and aged out of being a pinup. He, on the other hand, was no prize and had been in prison for selling drugs. They met for dinner on a first date in which both jumped outside their comfort zone. Read here to find out how this budding relationship progressed.

Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team

Andrew J. Campa, reporter
Carlos Lozano, news editor

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