{"id":859617,"date":"2026-06-11T10:10:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T10:10:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/859617\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T10:10:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T10:10:25","slug":"l-a-voters-are-stuck-with-status-quo-in-city-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/859617\/","title":{"rendered":"L.A. voters are stuck with status quo in City Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Los Angeles primary election season was characterized by calls for change.<\/a> But when the votes were tallied, the powers that be prevailed.<\/p>\n

Two City Hall fixtures \u2014 Mayor Karen Bass and City Councilmember Nithya Raman \u2014 will compete in the Nov. 3 runoff<\/a> after knocking out Spencer Pratt, the former reality TV personality who campaigned as an outsider looking to shake things up.<\/p>\n

And in a break with recent history, all of the City Council members running for re-election cruised to victories. Since the 2020 election, at least one council member lost their seat every two years to a well-funded, well-organized challenger. <\/p>\n

Fernando Guerra, director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University, said voters sometimes favor their local representative even if they have issues with city government in general.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen voters are frustrated, they often say: \u2018The system\u2019s not working, the only one working for me is my council member,\u2019\u201d Guerra said. \u201cVoters were frustrated with the city, frustrated with the way things are going, but were able to identify their council member as one of their few advocates, the one fighting the system with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The one exception to the trend was City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto, who became the first city attorney to miss the runoff <\/a>since 1933. Feldstein Soto found herself under assault from two sides \u2014 Deputy State Atty. Gen. Marissa Roy, a democratic socialist with union support, and John McKinney, a deputy district attorney with backing from law enforcement and short-term rental giant Airbnb. <\/p>\n

City Controller Kenneth Mejia, on the other hand, managed to trounce challenger Zach Sokoloff even though Sokoloff\u2019s mother spent $7.5 million on her son\u2019s behalf, while Mejia just had $146,000 in contributions and $500,000 in matching funds. <\/p>\n

Several council members were also bracing for for tough campaigns. For most, that never materialized. City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez was unopposed, and Councilmembers Hugo Soto-Mart\u00ednez, Katy Yaroslavsky and Tim McOsker breezed by, winning by double-digit margins. <\/p>\n

Councilmembers Eunisses Hernandez of the 1st District and Traci Park of the 11th District both overcame well-funded challengers to secure new four-year terms. <\/p>\n

\"City <\/p>\n

City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez attends a City Council meeting at City Hall following the primary election.<\/p>\n

(Etienne Laurent \/ For the Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cFolks see who their representatives are, they support the fight that they\u2019re taking on, and that they feel the difference in leadership,\u201d said Hernandez, who herself . Hernandez, among the youngest members on the council, had unexpectedly unseated incumbent Gil Cedillo<\/a>, who was seeking his third term, in 2022.<\/p>\n

As she campaigned for a second term, Hernandez faced a pack of four challengers, including Maria Lou Calanche, the director of nonprofit Expand LA, who had raised nearly $200,000 in contributions, unlocked matching funds and saw another $300,000 from independent expenditures, which are outside groups that do not coordinate with the campaign, spent on her behalf. <\/p>\n

Hernandez credited her win to her campaign\u2019s ground game and meeting voters at the door to combat the dark-money funded mailers against her<\/a>, as well as her record in office, such as advocating for a lowered rent cap<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my colleagues told me what we\u2019ve done is not easy,\u201d she said. \u201cI see it as people see what we\u2019re doing, and they want us to keep fighting for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Los <\/p>\n

Los Angeles City Councilmember Tim McOsker at City Hall.<\/p>\n

(Etienne Laurent \/ For the Times)<\/p>\n

McOsker, who secured a second term, said incumbents have historically done well in L.A., but recent years have tested them to stay true to the needs of their communities. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe see how people react to incumbency, and so all the more reason for you to be connected to your community and respond to community,\u201d he said. \u201cYou had a set of candidates on the ballot [on June 2] who just worked their tails off from day one until the last day of the fourth year.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"City <\/p>\n

City Councilmember Traci Irene Park reacts as she attends a meeting following the primary election.<\/p>\n

(Etienne Laurent \/ For the Times)<\/p>\n

Guerra pointed to Park, who represents the 11th District on the Westside and has become a local hero to many victims of the Palisades fire, as an example of how voters stood by their representative.<\/p>\n

Park faced Faizah Malik, a public interest attorney endorsed by the Los Angeles chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America \u2014 a group that has successfully organized to oust incumbent council members in recent years. The contest became the most expensive council race this year, nearly breaking $2 million in contributions. The majority of the contributions went to Park, who raised $1.3 million. <\/p>\n

Sue Kohl, a resident of the Palisades who lost her home in the fire, said the areas burned by the fire are \u201cblanketed\u201d with Park yard signs. In Westchester, where she relocated, Park signs also dominated front lawns. <\/p>\n

While there has been frustration with the overall rebuilding process and everyday issues, Kohl, who volunteered for Park\u2019s campaign, said she and others in the 11th District feel Park has been an advocate every step of the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou look to [government officials] for help, and if you see them doing other things as opposed to what you as a community desperately need, you\u2019d be frustrated and angry and ready to make a change,\u201d Kohl said. \u201cBut with Traci, everybody looks to what she\u2019s accomplished in the last four years and says \u2018Thank you god we have this woman who is willing to do this for us.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the council incumbents prevailed, City Hall will see at least two new faces after the Nov. 3 general election because of term limits. <\/p>\n

Estuardo Mazariegos and Jose Ugarte will vie for the District 9 council seat that is currently occupied by Curren Price, and Tim Gaspar and Barri Worth Girvan will square off for the District 3 seat held by incumbent Bob Blumenfield.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Los Angeles primary election season was characterized by calls for change. But when the votes were tallied,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":859618,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[350677,1582,276,233269,13239,718,14071,122137,91894,342903,2961,350679,224,2444,5337,17254,350678,199306,350680,1628],"class_list":["post-859617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-11th-district","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-city-council-member","tag-city-hall","tag-community","tag-contribution","tag-fernando-guerra","tag-hernandez","tag-l-a-voter","tag-la","tag-local-representative","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-losangeles","tag-palisades-fire","tag-tough-campaign","tag-traci-park","tag-well-funded-challenger","tag-year"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116730936805302536","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=859617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/859618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=859617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=859617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=859617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}