LOS ANGELES—Two progressive Los Angeles City Council candidates who were endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America Los Angeles (DSALA) chapter are prevailing over incumbents, as county clerks continue to tally mail-in ballots trickling in from the June 7 primary election.
The results show some Angelenos are voting more progressively than they did in past elections.
Endorsed by DSALA, Eunisses Hernandez leads incumbent Democratic Councilman Gil Cedillo for Council District 1. According to the registrar’s latest tally, Hernandez had more than 53 percent of the vote compared to Cedillo’s 46 percent.
Hernandez’s platform attributes public safety to “housing stability.”
“It’s zero traffic deaths; it’s road repair and emergency vehicle access; it’s access to jobs, unions, labor centers, and healthcare; it’s aging in place; it’s clean air; it’s programs and support for youth,” her campaign website reads.
She’s also campaigning to utilize the city’s $11 billion budget to end the “cycle of inequity, criminalization, and death.”
In Council District 13, Councilman Mitch O'Farrell trails the Democratic Socialist-endorsed candidate Hugo Soto-Martinez.
Martinez is a union organizer with Unite Here 11, which represents over 32,000 workers employed in hotels, restaurants, airports, sports arenas, and convention centers in Southern California. Martinez leads with 40 percent of the vote compared to Farrell’s 32 percent, according to results released on June 17.
Meanwhile, Martinez is focusing on addressing homelessness with a mix of housing and mental health resources.
“The evidence clearly shows that a mix of housing, services, and tenant protections get people off the streets, and keep them in their homes,” his campaign website reads.
According to its website, the LA chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America endorses candidates who support free health care, environmental justice and a Green New Deal, labor unions and employee protections, defunding the police, canceling student debt, housing as a human right, abolishing the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and detention centers, anti-imperialism and international solidarity, prison abolition, decreasing the influence of money in politics, and “electing democratic socialists to all levels of government.”
In the city’s mayoral race, U.S. Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) jumped ahead of real-estate mogul Rick Caruso because of mail-in votes, which put Bass at 43 percent to Caruso’s 36 percent as of June 17.
The official results are still being tallied; the county has roughly 365,000 ballots left to count.
