Your guide to the L.A. City Council District 1 race: Four challengers take on Eunisses Hernandez

Community activist Eunisses Hernandez rocked the political establishment four years ago, ousting Los Angeles City Councilmember Gil Cedillo, a veteran of Eastside politics.

Hernandez campaigned as a foe of gentrification while pledging to combat homelessness and shift funding from law enforcement to unarmed crisis response teams and other services.

The 36-year-old incumbent is seeking a second four-year term, facing a quartet of opponents who say the district has suffered under her watch. They point to MacArthur Park as a hotbed of homelessness and drug addiction and portray her as an unyielding ideologue on police issues.

Hernandez defended her record, saying she’s cleaned up homeless encampments and shielded critical services from budget cuts. She’s also amassed a long list of endorsements, including leftist groups such as the Democratic Socialists of America and the California Working Families Party.

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May 1, 2026

Eunisses Hernandez is running for L.A. City Council District 1.

(Eric Kelly)

Eunisses Hernandez: A resident of Highland Park, Hernandez made her mark in politics by co-chairing the campaign for Measure J, which dedicates a percentage of Los Angeles County funds toward health care, housing and other alternatives to the criminal justice system. She continued that approach after taking office, pushing for the hiring of unarmed crisis responders, such as mental health counselors.

Hernandez has been endorsed by City Controller Kenneth Mejia, City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson and Councilmember Nithya Raman, who’s running for mayor. Hernandez also has the backing of the county Federation of Labor, which has spent more than $225,000 to get her reelected, according to campaign finance data as of April 17.

Raul Claros, a candidate for L.A. City Council District 1, waits to hand out fliers to voters before meeting with seniors at Glassell Park Community Senior Center on April 1.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Raul Claros: A resident of Chinatown, Claros is chief executive of UNO Partners, a government relations consulting firm. He spent four years as a chapter executive for the Los Angeles regional office of the American Red Cross. Claros has been calling for a clean sweep of the leadership at City Hall, saying voters should boot out not just Hernandez but also Mayor Karen Bass and Police Chief Jim McDonnell.

Maria Lou Calanche is running for Los Angeles City Council District 1.

(Armando Lopez)

Maria “Lou” Calanche: Calanche is the executive director of the nonprofit Expanded Learning Alliance, or Expand LA, which works to give children greater access to after-school educational programs. Before that, the Montecito Heights resident founded and spent 15 years running Legacy LA, which provides after-school services to children across the Eastside. Calanche says those jobs show she has the experience to oversee the district.

Nelson Grande is running for Los Angeles City Council District 1.

(Sean Carline)

Nelson Grande: Grande, who lives in Highland Park, is president of Grande Enterprises, a business consulting company. He spent much of his career in the entertainment industry, appearing in television commercials and in episodes of “General Hospital” and “Eastbound and Down.” Grande, who has lived in various parts of the district, said he’s running for office because people in the district “aren’t feeling heard.”

Sylvia Robledo is running for Los Angeles City Council District 1.

(Tim Sullens)

Sylvia Robledo: Robledo has worked as an aide to several L.A. elected officials, including Cedillo and former Councilmember Jan Perry, who represented downtown and South L.A. After leaving Cedillo’s office in 2019, she formed a consulting firm specializing in community relations. Robledo, a Highland Park resident, also was a contestant on “The Golden Bachelor” and says the experience taught her valuable lessons about “overcoming fear.”

The 1st District stretches from Highland Park on the northeast to University Park on the southwest. It takes in all or part of Mount Washington, Montecito Heights, Lincoln Heights, Chinatown, Solano Canyon, Echo Park, Angeleno Heights, Historic Filipinotown, Koreatown, Westlake, MacArthur Park and Pico-Union.

The challengers say Hernandez has failed to making meaningful headway on homeless encampments in Chinatown, Lincoln Heights and other parts of the district.

“People feel they do not have safe and walkable streets,” Robledo said. “People are disappointed, and I am too.”

Robledo, 67, wants to shut down the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, the city-county agency that oversees social services at the city’s hotels, motels and other interim housing.

Hernandez touts a $6.3-million state grant she helped secure to house homeless people living in or near the Arroyo Seco riverbed. She’s bringing a new 65-bed interim housing facility to Cypress Park and has worked to beef up services near MacArthur Park.

“I’m not focused on what folks are saying about us not delivering the services,” Hernandez said. “I know in my district we’re doing the work.”

Hernandez supports Mayor Karen Bass’ Inside Safe program, which has cleared encampments across the city, but wants greater transparency on how its money is spent.

Grande and Robledo also favor Inside Safe but say it is too expensive and needs to be reworked. Claros is the only candidate in the race who outright opposes the program, saying he would vote against any additional funds to keep it going.

“When we look at it now and we just do the numbers, it’s been a failure,” Claros said. “We’ve got to completely course correct and get away from that.”

Calanche, 57, supports Inside Safe but believes it isn’t addressing the root causes of homelessness, particularly mental health and drug addiction. Those issues are the responsibility of county government, which has its own public health and mental health agencies, she said.

To make real progress on those issues, the city should create its own public health department, similar to those found in Long Beach and Pasadena, Calanche said.

“There needs to be a different vision to address this issue,” she said.

Calanche, Claros, Grande and Robledo support Municipal Code 41.18, which prohibits homeless encampments within 500 feet of schools and daycare centers. That law allows the council to create 41.18 zones around “sensitive use” locations, such as public libraries and freeway overpasses.

Hernandez is a longtime opponent of 41.18, calling it ineffective and inhumane. She has voted against dozens of 41.18 zones that were created by her colleagues in the San Fernando Valley, the Westside and South Los Angeles.

Hernandez has put a major emphasis on fighting the displacement of renters — what she calls the “eviction to homelessness pipeline.”

She secured $390,000 to help tenants in her district stay in their homes and brokered a $15-million deal to end a long-running tenant dispute at Hillside Villa in Chinatown, where dozens of renters were facing eviction. She also won passage of a 4% cap on yearly rent increases on more than 600,000 rent-stabilized apartments.

Hernandez said her office has a team that steps in when landlords file eviction notices in her district, to ensure at-risk tenants secure rental assistance. Those efforts have cut evictions in the district by 10% since 2022, she said.

On housing production, Hernandez says she supports Senate Bill 79, which allows much taller residential buildings within a half-mile of rail stations. That law eventually could bring major changes to light rail stops in Highland Park, Mount Washington and other parts of the district.

Hernandez wants to exempt areas that face a high risk of wildfire from SB 79’s provisions.

Grande supports SB 79, saying the city has lagged on housing production. Claros, a lifelong renter, favors the law but with “lots of hesitation,” saying it’s still unclear how it will work.

Robledo and Calanche oppose SB 79. Calanche said Sacramento lawmakers don’t “understand the nuances” of individual L.A. neighborhoods.

“I don’t want to give away my power, and the community’s power, to have a say about what happens in their community,” she said.

Hernandez opposed Bass’ budget in 2023 and 2024, saying too much money was going to the Los Angeles Police Department and not enough to street repairs, sidewalk upgrades and other basic services. She voted for the budget last year after council members cut in half the amount of police hiring sought by Bass.

The council later reversed course, voting to add 170 officers, which Hernandez opposed.

In an interview, Hernandez said she’s working to “enhance the public safety ecosystem” by creating a citywide network of unarmed crisis response teams and increasing funding for gang intervention workers, who seek to mediate disputes and avert bloodshed. Both are less costly than police and at times are the more appropriate response, she said.

“I will continue to do the work on beefing up the system, so you can call 911 and have the right team respond,” she told an audience last month.

Calanche, a former police commissioner, said she too supports alternatives to police, telling an audience recently that youth programs would be a top budget priority. She criticized Hernandez for describing herself as abolitionist — someone who favors the gradual replacement of law enforcement with other social services.

“We cannot abolish the police,” Calanche said. “No matter what anybody tells you, this community and all the communities in Council District 1 say they are not safe. They don’t feel safe.”

Calanche and the other three challengers support Bass’ long-range goal of restoring the LAPD to 9,500 officers. (The department has about 8,700.) All four endorsed the package of pay increases that Bass negotiated with the police union in 2023.

“If it’s going to put more officers on the street and retain more officers, then I lean to the side of supporting it,” said Grande, 44.

Hernandez voted against the LAPD pay increases, saying they would saddle the city with hundreds of millions of dollars in yearly payroll costs, sapping funds for other basic services.