L.A. City Council District 10 election voter guide

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March 5 is primary election day in the Los Angeles City Council District 10 race in Mid-City, Koreatown and parts of South L.A. Running for the seat are a pastor, an attorney, an environmental activist, a state assemblyman and the incumbent council member.

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Who are the candidates?

Eddie Anderson

Anderson, 33, is a pastor and community organizer. He served on the L.A. Redistricting Commission from 2020 to 2021, and serves on the advisory board of the Black People Experiencing Homelessness Committee for L.A. County and the L.A. Homeless Services Authority. He’s an organizer for nonprofits including L.A. Voice and co-founded the Partnership for Growth L.A., a Black and Jewish community development corporation. He graduated from Morehouse College with a degree in political science and government and has master’s degrees from Claremont School of Theology. Born in Atlanta, he lives in Mid-City with his wife.

For the record:

7:50 a.m. Feb. 28, 2024An earlier version of this article said former Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas was imprisoned in a bribery and fraud scheme. He was convicted but remains free on bail pending an appeal.

Heather Hutt

Hutt, 64, is the council member representing District 10. Hutt, a longtime political staffer, was appointed as the interim replacement for former Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas, who was ousted from his seat and convicted in a bribery and fraud scheme. (He is free on bail pending an appeal.) She was a senior advisor to Vice President Kamala Harris when Harris was a U.S. senator, the first Black person in California to serve as the U.S. Senate state director, and the first Black woman to serve as chief of staff for the 10th District since 1973. Born and raised in L.A., she graduated from USC with a degree in business and lives in Baldwin Vista with her sister and son.

Reggie Jones-Sawyer

Jones-Sawyer, 67, is a Democratic California Assembly member from L.A. who recently served as chair of the Assembly Public Safety Committee. He was assistant deputy mayor for the city, co-founded the state’s Congressional Progressive Caucus and has served in other government roles including as director of real estate for L.A. Born in Little Rock, Ark., he moved to L.A. as a child and graduated from USC, receiving a degree in public administration. He lives in Lafayette Square with his sister and niece.

Aura Vásquez

Vásquez, 45, is an environmental activist and small-business owner. She was a legislative aide for former Rep. Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.), an organizer for the Sierra Club’s campaign to end L.A.’s reliance on coal, and director of climate justice for the Center for Popular Democracy. She also served on the L.A. Department of Water and Power’s board. Born in Colombia, Vásquez moved to New York when she was 18. She graduated from City University of New York’s Lehman College with a degree in political science and multicultural journalism. She lives near Little Ethiopia.

Grace Yoo

Yoo, 52, is an attorney, community advocate and former L.A. city commissioner. She worked for former Riverside Mayor Ronald Loveridge, former California Treasurer Kathleen Brown and current U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Riverside) when he first ran for a House seat. She served as executive director of the Korean American Coalition L.A. and the National Asian Pacific American Bar Assn. Born in South Korea, she graduated from UC Riverside with a degree in political science and from Seton Hall University School of Law with a juris doctorate. She lives in Angeles Vista with her octogenarian parents.

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Where is District 10?

The 10th Council District takes in all or part of Mid-City, Little Ethiopia, Leimert Park, La Cienega Heights, Baldwin Hills, Jefferson Park, Koreatown and Little Bangladesh. The district includes the Wiltern, Leimert Park Plaza, the World Stage, the Lula Washington Dance Theatre, and a small section of the Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area.

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Homelessness

Vásquez said she favors the construction of more affordable housing and interim shelters, as well as mental health facilities and addiction treatment centers. She wants to strengthen tenant protections to prevent evictions by safeguarding rent-controlled units.

Anderson said he supports guaranteed basic income and the right to counsel for tenants facing eviction. He also wants to pour more funds into supportive services such as mental health facilities and intervention workers.

Yoo said that she supports the construction of more affordable housing, but that the city should provide temporary homes for families displaced to build affordable homes. She also wants an improved methodology for the city’s homeless count that would garner better data.

Hutt emphasized the need to preserve rent-stabilized units while providing supportive housing and “wraparound” mental health services for those who are unhoused. She said mental health was “the key to everything” regarding the homelessness crisis. The incumbent also supports Municipal Code section 41.18, which prohibits homeless encampments in designated areas.

Jones-Sawyer said the city has enough money, resources and programs to address the homelessness crisis, but its approach needs to be reformed. He also wants to see the construction of permanent affordable housing expedited, and like Vásquez, wants to see public-private partnerships with the city and developers.

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Policing and public safety

Vásquez, Yoo and Anderson said they want greater investments in things such as street paving, street lighting and green spaces, with Yoo and Anderson adding that more and better infrastructure is necessary to reduce speeding, traffic accidents and fatalities.

While Yoo would like to see greater police presence in communities, Vásquez said she supports other styles of patrolling, such as neighborhood watch groups and community policing. Anderson and Vásquez also said police funding should be reallocated toward job and school programs.

Hutt said she wants to close the vacancy gap in the LAPD with young, local hires who understand diverse communities. She also supports unarmed crisis response for mental health calls and other nonviolent situations.

Jones-Sawyer said he wants to see the caliber of law enforcement officers improve by increasing qualifications, such as raising their age and educational background. He also wants to require police to take unconscious bias-training and a critical race theory class.

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Who is backing the candidates?

Vásquez’s supporters include L.A. Community College District Board Trustee Sara Hernandez, California Assemblymember Blanca Rubio (D-Baldwin Park), former state Sen. Richard Polanco, the Solar Rights Alliance and Southern California Armenian Democrats.

Anderson supporters include the California Working Families Party, Asian Democrats of L.A. County, Run for Something, and L.A. Voice Action.

Yoo is backed by retired U.S. Rep. Howard Berman, L.A. County Bar Assn. President Ann I. Park, LAUSD board member and former L.A. City Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg, and former City Controller, Councilwoman and state Inspector General Laura Chick.

Hutt’s backers include Working Californians, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 11 and 18 and Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles co-founder Melina Abdullah.

Jones-Sawyer’s supporters include Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, the National Union of Healthcare Workers, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770 and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 94.

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