The 2023 Los Angeles special election was held on April 4, 2023, with a runoff occurring on June 27, 2023. Voters will elect a candidate in a nonpartisan primary, with runoff elections potentially scheduled. One of the fifteen seats on the

Los Angeles City Council The Los Angeles City Council is the Legislature, lawmaking body for the Government of Los Angeles, city government of Los Angeles, California, the second largest city in the United States. It has 15 members who each represent the 15 city council ...

was up for election due to the vacancy of one member, councilwoman Nury Martinez of

District 6 District Six is a place in Cape Town, South Africa. District Six may also refer to: :Government divisions * District 6, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam * District 6 (New York City Council), in the United States * VI District, Turku, in Finland * Dist ...

, who resigned in the wake of the 2022 Los Angeles City Council scandal. Sharon Tso was installed as a caretaker to the district, but no formal appointment was made. There was potential for a recall over

Kevin de León Kevin Alexander Leon (born December 10, 1966), known professionally as Kevin de León and colloquially as KDL, is an American politician who served as the Los Angeles City Council member for District 14 from 2020 until 2024. A member of the Dem ...

's statements made during the 2022 Los Angeles City Council scandal as well, though due to the lack of signatures turned in by the deadline on April 1, 2023, the petition to recall de León failed. Former City Attorney

Mike Feuer Michael Nelson Feuer (born May 14, 1958)Nancy Hill-Holtzman, "Ambition, Altruism Drive Mike Feuer", ''Los Angeles Times'' (March 29. 1995), p. B1, B6. is an American politician and lawyer who served as Los Angeles City Attorney from 2013 to 202 ...

also proposed that a special election be held on a referendum to replace the council's ability to redraw the City Council districts with an independent commission before the 2024 elections. Municipal elections in California are officially nonpartisan, and candidates' party affiliations do not appear on the ballot.

District 6

The 6th district includes the neighborhoods of

Lake Balboa Lake Balboa is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. The area was previously part of Van Nuys.Van Nuys Van Nuys ( ) is a neighborhood in the central San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Home to Van Nuys Airport and the Valley Municipal Building, it is the most populous neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley. History In 1 ...

Panorama City Panorama City is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, in the San Fernando Valley. It has a generally young age range as well as the highest population density in the Valley. More than half of the neighborhood's population was b ...

Arleta Arleta () is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles, California. It contains a high percentage of Latino residents and of people born outside the United States. Geography Arleta is bordered by the Los Ange ...

, North Hills,

North Hollywood North Hollywood is a neighborhood and district in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California. The neighborhood contains the NoHo Arts District, El Portal Theater, several art galleries, and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Th ...

, and Sun Valley, as well as

Van Nuys Airport Van Nuys Airport is a public airport in the Van Nuys neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles. The airport is operated by Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), a branch of the Los Angeles city government, which also operates Los Angeles Internat ...

and the

Sepulveda Basin The Sepulveda Dam is a dry dam constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to withhold winter flood waters along the Los Angeles River. Completed in 1941, at a cost of $6,650,561 (), it is located south of center in the San Fernando Valley, a ...

. Although the election was officially nonpartisan, all qualified candidates were members of the Democratic Party except Rose Grigoryan, who was registered as "no party preference."

Candidates

Declared

* Marisa Alcaraz, deputy chief of staff to city councilor Curren Price from

Lake Balboa Lake Balboa is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. The area was previously part of Van Nuys.North Hollywood North Hollywood is a neighborhood and district in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California. The neighborhood contains the NoHo Arts District, El Portal Theater, several art galleries, and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Th ...

* Isaac Kim, skin care business owner from

Van Nuys Van Nuys ( ) is a neighborhood in the central San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Home to Van Nuys Airport and the Valley Municipal Building, it is the most populous neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley. History In 1 ...

Imelda Padilla Imelda G. Padilla (born 1987) is an American politician who is currently a member of the Los Angeles City Council representing the 6th district since 2023. She had previously ran for the Los Angeles Unified School District's Board of Education fo ...

, community relations manager and candidate for

Los Angeles Unified School District Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is a State school, public school district in Los Angeles County, California, United States of America. It is the largest public school system in California in terms of number of students and the List ...

Board of Education in 2017 from Sun Valley * Marco Santana, housing nonprofit director and former Controller of the

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, Los Angeles County, California. Situated to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it comprises a large portion of Los Angeles, the Municipal corpo ...

Democratic Party from

* Antoinette Scully, community organizer from

* Douglas Sierra, community center facilities coordinator from Sun Valley

Qualified write-in candidates

* Wendy Goodman Thum, president of the Sun Valley Neighborhood Council * Carmelina Minasova, respiratory therapist * Richard Serrano,

Los Angeles Department of Water and Power The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) is the largest municipal Public utility, utility in the United States with 8,100 megawatts of electric generating capacity (2021–2022) and delivering an average of 435 million gallons of wat ...

employee

Disqualified

* Lanira Murphy, treasurer of the

Neighborhood Council and runner-up for

California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature (the upper house being the California State Senate). The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento, Califor ...

District 46 in

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

* James Thomas, president of the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...

Declined

* Angélica Dueñas, member of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party Central Committee, former president of the Sun Valley Neighborhood Council, and candidate for

California's 29th congressional district California's 29th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of California based in the north central San Fernando Valley. The district is represented by . It includes the city of San Fernando, as well as the Los Ange ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, and

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

* Kelly Gonez, president of the

Los Angeles Board of Education Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is a public school district in Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the List of United States count ...

''(endorsed Santana)'' *

Cindy Montañez Cindy Montañez (January 19, 1974 – October 21, 2023) was an American Democratic Party (United States), Democratic politician who was an Assemblywoman from California's 39th State Assembly district, serving for four years, from 2002 until 200 ...

San Fernando San Fernando may refer to: People *Ferdinand III of Castile (c. 1200–1252), called ''San Fernando'' (Spanish) or ''Saint Ferdinand'', King of Castile, León, and Galicia Places Argentina *San Fernando de la Buena Vista, city of Greater Buenos ...

city councilor, former state assemblywoman from the 39th district, and candidate for this district in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

and

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Luz Rivas Luz Maria Rivas (born February 6, 1974) is an American politician who has served as the U.S. representative from since 2025. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously represented the 43rd district in the California State Assembly from 2 ...

, state assemblywoman from the 39th district *Sharon Tso, Los Angeles Chief Legislative Analyst and nonvoting placeholder for this seat

Endorsements

Fundraising

Political positions

General election

District 14 recall attempt

's recall was first introduced in October 2022, in the midst of the 2022 Los Angeles City Council scandal. The recall petition was approved by the city clerk office on December 6, 2022. The petition failed on April 1, 2023, as only 21,006 of the required 25,000 valid signatures were turned in.

Polling

Should Kevin de León be recalled?

Notes

References

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...