LOS ANGELES — City Councilmember Kevin de León announced Wednesday that he will seek reelection next year.
The 56-year-old Los Angeles native has represented Council District 14 since October 2020, when he was elected to replace Jose Huizar, who was suspended after a bribery indictment.
De León is now three years into a tumultuous term where his civic achievements have been marred by scandal, following a leaked audio recording of him speaking with two other city councilmembers using racist language.
In his reelection announcement, de León highlighted his track record housing more homeless individuals and building more homeless housing than any other district. He was an early champion of tiny home villages, helping to build the largest such community in Highland Park in 2021. He has also advocated for more green space in disadvantaged neighborhoods, including the recently announced revitalization of Pershing Square Park in downtown LA.
“My constituents deserve this high level of dedicated public service and I’m grateful for their ongoing trust and support,” de León said in a statement. “At the end of the day, the heart and soul of the work that we do as council members is about serving the people, especially those that are struggling. That’s what I care about and that’s why I’m running.”
De León has a long history in politics. Before joining LA’s City Council, he served as an assemblymember, senator and Senate president in the California Legislature, where he helped secure funding for new parks and permanent housing for individuals experiencing homelessness. In 2022, before the leaked audio, he ran an unsuccessful campaign for LA mayor.
He has been the subject of four recall attempts, most of them related to the tiny home village he approved in Eagle Rock to house homeless individuals. The most recent attempt was last December, but it failed to garner enough support.
De León has had a rough go of it since the leaked audiotape came to light almost a year ago. Unlike the other two councilmembers on the tape — Nury Martinez, who resigned, and Gil Cedillo, who served out his term in silence having failed to win reelection — de León continued to show up at City Council meetings, where he was routinely met with protests.
Despite a City Council censure and a fistfight with an activist at a holiday event that was caught on video but never resulted in charges, de León has continued to do his job. After a brief image repair campaign late last year, de Leon has largely kept a low media profile, though he has remained actively involved with the causes he championed before the scandal broke.