Kevin de León, Ysabel Jurado head to November runoff for LA's 14th district

LOS ANGELES - In the race for LA's 14th District seat, tenants rights attorney Ysabel Jurado and incumbent City Councilman Kevin de León will head for a runoff in the November general election. 

The latest tally from the March 5 primary election shows Juardo with 8,607 votes, or 24.52%, compared to 8,209 votes, or 23.39% for de León, according to figures released Tuesday by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk.

Jurado entered Tuesday's resumption of the ballot count with a 398-vote lead, upping her margin some 80 votes from last week's update.

Assemblyman Miguel Santiago, D-Los Angeles, remained in third, trailing behind de León, with 7,460 votes, 21.26%.

According to the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, there are still 3,400 ballots left to process countywide -- approximately 2,000 vote-by-mail ballots and 1,400 conditional voter registration ballots. The vote-by-mail ballots are pending signature verification from voters whose signature on the return envelope were either missing or did not match their registration records. It was unknown how many of the remaining ballots were from the 14th District.

The next update will be released Friday, with election results set to be certified March 29.

Because no candidate in the field of eight received a majority, the top two candidates will meet in a runoff in November, likely Jurado and de León.

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With more than 76% of the primary vote going to candidates other than de León, Jurado is considered the heavy favorite in the runoff.

When she overtook de León in the vote counting to claim first place, Jurado said in a statement she felt "incredibly humbled for the support and so proud of the movement that made this victory possible -- a victory for our entire community."

"We're going to finish what we started -- so I'm optimistic and excited about November," Jurado said. "We're going to continue to knock doors, hold community meetings and barnstorms, and meet people where they're at to earn the trust and support of every voter in the district."

Jurado also recognized the road ahead will be challenging, but said she and her team are prepared to meet those challenges head-on and overcome them.

"With our multi-generational, multi-ethnic coalition of movers and shakers, I'm confident that we can build on our momentum and secure a victory for the people of CD-14 in November," Jurado said.

Jurado took the lead for the first time last week.

When initial voting results were released March 6, Jurado was in third place with 18.92% of the vote, while de León led with 27.15% and Santiago was second with 20.27%.

A de León representative told the LA Times that his campaign heading into November would highlight differences between the incumbent and Jurado.

"The voters have a clear choice in November between an experienced, results-driven elected officials and someone who has promised to undo some of the progress we've made in housing Angelenos and cleaning up sidewalks," David Meraz, spokesman for de León, told The Times.

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De León drew the ire of the public and fellow elected officials, including President Joe Biden, for his participation in a secretly recorded conversation in 2021 over redistricting that included a series of racist remarks.

The 14th District encompasses Boyle Heights, Lincoln Heights, Downtown Los Angeles, El Sereno and Northeast Los Angeles.