L.A. council candidates Cedillo, Choi join forces

Two candidates for Los Angeles City Council who are running in separate districts said Thursday that they are joining forces.

At a news conference in Koreatown, candidates John Choi and Gil Cedillo said they will be supporting each other’s campaigns because they have similar backgrounds and shared values.

Choi, who is running against Mitch O’Farrell in the race to replace mayoral candidate Eric Garcetti in Council District 13, was born in Korea and was once the economic development director at the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.

Cedillo, who is running against Jose Gardea in District 1, served as general manager of the Service Employees International Union and pushed for immigrants’ rights as a member of the Assembly and later the state Senate.

Cedillo said that if he and Choi are elected, they will fight to improve the lives of working-class people. “Our goal is to bring services to those that don’t have a voice,” he said.

Both candidates are backed by Working Californians, the independent group funded in large part by the union representing most Department of Water and Power employees. The group, which also is backing mayoral candidate Wendy Greuel, has advertised extensively for Choi and Cedillo, sending out mailers to voters and funding large billboards.

The candidates said they hope their collaboration will help Choi capture Latino voters and Cedillo appeal to Korean Americans. A spokesman for Gardea, Steve Barkan, said he doesn’t think that will happen. Gardea has many prominent Korean American backers, he said. “That’s going to matter more than somebody from another district endorsing.”

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kate.linthicum@latimes.com

Twitter: @katelinthicum