Who are council members backing in the Valley race?
A handful of Los Angeles City Council members are throwing their weight into the April 4 special election to fill the San Fernando Valley seat left vacant by Nury Martinez’s resignation.
Councilmembers Curren Price and Heather Hutt are backing Marisa Alcaraz, who is Price’s deputy chief of staff and environmental policy director.
Councilwoman Nithya Raman endorsed Marco Santana, who works as a director at L.A. Family Housing. Raman called Santana a “deep thinker on policy — especially when it comes to real solutions for ending homelessness.”
Hayes Davenport, a highlevel advisor to Raman who volunteered on her 2020 council campaign, cohosted a meet-and-greet fundraiser for Santana last month.
Former Councilmember Mike Bonin was in attendance during the event at Davenport’s home, according to Santana’s campaign. Bonin hasn’t endorsed anyone in the race.
Meanwhile, Councilmember Monica Rodriguez endorsed Imelda Padilla, who has worked for the nonprofits Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy and Pacoima Beautiful. She cited Padilla’s “long record of service to the San Fernando Valley.”
Padilla is also endorsed by two former Valley council members: Joy Picus and Tony Cardenas, now a member of Congress.
Of course, endorsements from politicians don’t always matter much to voters. And let’s not forget that being a City Council member may be seen by some as a liability.
Yet some of the District 6 candidates aren’t shy about weighing in on which council members they admire. Bonin on his podcast has interviewed each of the candidates, with the exception of Rose Grigoryan, and asked which member of the City Council they think they are most politically aligned with.
Santana flattered Bonin by saying, “I would have liked to have you there,” before naming Marqueece Harris-Dawson, whom he called a “really smart guy,” and Raman.
Isaac Kim replied, “I really like Eunisses [Hernandez] and Hugo [SotoMartinez].”
Alcaraz said she’d be most politically aligned with Price and “probably Katy [Young] Yaroslavsky.”
Padilla said Rodriguez, while Antoinette Scully responded with, “Probably Eunisses Hernandez and Hugo Soto-Martinez and a little bit with Nithya as well.”
Douglas Sierra went with Harris-Dawson.
Look for more endorsements from politicians in the days ahead, but don’t hold your breath for some of those big progressive groups to weigh in. As we recently reported, Ground Game Los Angeles and others are staying on the sidelines.