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. But what De León’s supporters don’t get is that the Latino Power strategy that long fueled Eastside politics is over …
Los Angeles City Councilmember Kevin de León speaks to supporters on Tuesday as election results appear on the screen behind him. In the secretly recorded conversation that upended his political career, Los Angeles City Councilmember Kevin de León kept returning to a familiar theme: preserving and expanding Latino political power. De León argued during the campaign that a Jurado victory …
The text message that showed up on the phones of Eastside voters last month began with a warning: Forty years of Latino political representation is under threat. Los Angeles City Councilmember Kevin de León, center, sent a text message warning that Latino representation in his district is “threatened.” His opponent, Ysabel Jurado, called it racially divisive. At the same time, …
This is the first in a four-part series on how Latino political power has changed Los Angeles. California Politics on the Eastside: Clout, but No Machine Latino activists in Los Angeles often refer to a “political machine” that operates on the city’s Eastside. New faces broke through the Eastside’s political thickets: Rocky Delgadillo became city attorney in 2001, while Huizar …
