Kevin de León has won the race for Los Angeles City Council District 14 with close to 53% of the vote, according to final results certified Friday.
As expected, the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder announced the certified election results for the March 3 election. In the final tally, De León received 25,083 votes, or 52.61% of the total ballots cast. He needed a simple majority of 50% plus one to avoid a November runoff. De León will take over the seat being vacated by Councilmember José Huízar in December.
None of the other four candidates in the race came close. Cyndi Otteson received 9,294 votes or 19.49% of the vote; Raquel Zamora 6,483 or 13.60%; Mónica García, 5.222 or 10.95%; and John Jiménez 1,595 or 3.35%.
Last week, De León issued a statement in which he declared victory in the race and said he was focused on the current Covid-19 emergency while maintaining social distance guidelines.
“I do not expect the road ahead to be easy, but we will achieve great progress as long as we stand together and continue to support each other no matter what may come. Let’s get to work,” the former state legislator said in the statement.
As councilmember De León will represent a district that includes parts of downtown Los Angeles, Boyle Heights and several Northeast LA neighborhoods, like El Sereno and Eagle Rock.
The first Latino to become president pro tempore of the California Senate in modern times, De León brings decades of political experience and connections to the CD 14 office. Those connections were criticized by some of his opponents in the race, when he was the only candidate not to pledge to complete his four-year term in the City Council. Some political analysts have said that De León may run for Mayor of Los Angeles in 2022.
He prepares to take over the CD-14 seat as Huízar, who is termed out of office, is mired in controversy. The councilmember’s home and offices were raided by the FBI in 2018 in what appears to be an investigation into City Hall corruption, but no charges against Huízar have been filed.
