LA City Council: Ysabel Jurado announces victory over incumbent Kevin de Leon

LOS ANGELES (CNS) — Progressive candidate Ysabel Jurado, who had a lead over incumbent Kevin de León before the election District 14 seat on the Los Angeles City Councildeclared victory on Thursday and thanked her supporters and community for the win.

According to the partial results released Thursday, Jurado led with 33,350 votes, or about 55.78% of the vote, while de León received 26,442 votes, or about 44.22% of the vote. The LA County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk will continue counting ballots. The next update is scheduled for Friday at 4:00 PM.

It is unclear how many ballots remain to be counted in the district. Mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day will also be accepted for up to a week.

“…it was the community that came together to knock on more than 83,000 doors; it was the community that mobilized into an army of more than a thousand volunteers; it was the community that wrote and sent more than 8,000 postcards; it was the community that helped shape all our policies; it was the community that registered more than 300 neglected voters in Skid Row to vote and it was the community that made their voices loud and clear; hear,” Jurado said in a statement.

“Thank you to everyone who joined this campaign, who believed in this vision and fought for this victory. We will move forward together and blaze a trail for the rest of the nation,” she added.

A representative for de León did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The two candidates competed to represent a district that includes downtown LA, Boyle Heights, Lincoln Heights, El Sereno and Northeast LA.

De León had to overcome the political damage he suffered from being heard participating in a secretly recorded 2021 conversation that used crude and racist language.

On election night, the councilman noted that he faced challenges following the leaked recording — and that he refused to quit as many had called on him to do.

“It was too much if our district had no representation, so my staff and I rolled up our sleeves and dug deep to deliver the services, the programs and the funding we deserve here on CD 14, and even in the face of intense, relentless scrutiny and pressure, we have not backed down,” said De León. “We stood strong for our community.”