Fil-Am lawyer, 6 others challenge incumbent in LA’s District 14 race

LOS ANGELES – Since the day in 2022 when a year-old leaked recording caught City Councilman Kevin de León taking part in a conversation with two other council members and a union leader in which racially derogatory remarks were heard, de León has resisted widespread calls for his resignation and instead worked to rebuild his image.

The calls for de León to quit have largely quieted after he apologized, took a two-month break from council sessions and then went out and did his job — but today, his redemption efforts get put to a major test as he battles seven challengers on the primary ballot for the council seat from District 14.

Ysabel Jurado, the daughter of a formerly undocumented Filipino worker, is running for the 14th District. Photo from Ysabel Jurado’s campaign website

Those challengers are Assembly members Wendy Carrillo and Miguel Santiago; health professional Nadine Diaz; community advocate Genny Guerrero; attorney Teresa Hillery; LAUSD teacher Eduardo “Lalo” Vargas and Filipino American tenant rights attorney Ysabel Jurado.

Jurado, an affordable-housing activist and single mother, was born and raised in Highland Park. She is the daughter of a formerly undocumented Filipino worker.

As a resident of the 14th District, she said she’s running to prevent tenant evictions, stand by community organizations and support small businesses.

She supports project labor agreements, community benefit agreements, city contracts with the right to collectively bargain, expansion of worker funds, no outsourcing jobs to private companies, protecting undocumented workers and helping formerly incarcerated workers find and maintain employment.

Jurado has come out against the city’s anti-camping laws and is critical of increasing funding for the LAPD.

District 14 encompasses Boyle Heights, Lincoln Heights, Downtown L.A., El Sereno and Northeast L.A.

If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote in the primary, the top two vote-getters will face each other in a runoff in the general election on Nov. 5.

The 57-year-old de León is seeking a second four-year term on the City Council after a first term marked by efforts to bring unhoused constituents indoors, resist gentrification and push to clear street encampments.

But de León’s first term will be remembered most for his participation in that secretly recorded conversation from 2021 involving four officials that included a series of racist remarks and discussions over redistricting.

Two of the officials — former Council President Nury Martinez and former L.A. County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera — resigned, but de León and fellow councilman Gil Cedillo resisted the growing calls. Cedillo lost his
reelection bid.

In the tapes, de León compared then-Councilman Mike Bonin’s handling of his son at a Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade to “when Nury brings her little yard bag or the Louis Vuitton bag.” He did not interject as Martinez belittled Bonin, who is white and openly gay, and called Bonin’s child “esechanguito” — Spanish for “that little monkey.”

In a statement after the tapes were released, de León said: “There were comments made in the context of this meeting that are wholly inappropriate, and I regret appearing to condone and even contribute to certain insensitive comments made about a colleague and his family in private. … On that day, I fell short of the expectations we set for our leaders — and I will
hold myself to a higher standard.”

He’s continued that rhetoric in the campaign — saying in one mailer, “I’m sorry for what I did and didn’t do.” But his campaign has also emphasized his accomplishments and urged voters to give him the chance to continue.

Another Fil-Am, Ely De La Cruz Ayao, is also running for the LA City Council, eyeing the 6th District, which covers the northern parts of the San Fernando Valley, including Arleta, Lake Balboa, North Hollywood, North Hills, Panorama City, Van Nuys, and Sun Valley.