What you missed at the CD-14 debate between Jurado and De Leon

Los Angeles Council District 14 (CD-14) candidates Ysabel Jurado and Kevin de Leon sparred over their qualifications in what could have been their last in-person debate before the November election. 

Wednesday’s CD-14 debate, a district home to approximately 265,000 people, 70% of them Latino, offered the public a chance to hear from both candidates and their stand on issues such as homelessness, public safety and affordable housing, among other things. 

CALÓ News was one of the media outlets that were present inside Dolores Mission Catholic Church in Boyle Heights, where the debate was held. Below are our reporter's main takeaways.  

People showed up and showed out. More than 300 people attended the debate, which was organized by Boyle Heights Beat and Proyecto Pastoral. More than 260 people gathered inside the church and the rest watched via a livestream projected on the church’s patio. 

The debate was bilingual, with translation services available for all, honoring the many Spanish speakers that live in the district, as Brendan P. Busse, pastor of the church, said in the opening statement. 

As part of the event guidelines, Busse also shared that no applause or booing was to be permitted, a rule that was broken within the first ten minutes of the forum. “Where you are tonight is a sacred place. People who are in need of shelter sleep here and have for the last 40 years,” he said when referring to the church transforming into a homeless shelter at night for over 30 adults. “Power and peace can live in the same place.” . 

That was the most peaceful and serene moment throughout the two-hour forum. 

What followed was traded insults and competing visions from both candidates. 

One of the first stabs occurred when De Leon accused Jurado of wanting to “abolish the police” and when Jurado reminded the public of De Leon’s “racist rhetoric,” referring to the 2022 scandal over the secretly recorded conversation with Gil Cedillo and Nury Martínez where they talked about indigenous Mexicans, Oaxacans, the Black and LGBT communities, as well as councilman Mike Bonin’s family.

“I made a mistake, and I took responsibility. I have been apologizing for two years,” De Leon said. “Just as in the traditions of the Jesuits, love, reconciliation [and] peace, one must choose if we are going to be clinging to the past or move forward. I choose to move forward.” 

When Jurado was asked about her stance on police, she said she had never said she wanted to abolish the police. “Don’t put words in my mouth,” she told De Leon. “I have never said that,” she said. “We put so much money into public safety into the LAPD yet street business owners and residents in these communities do not feel safer. The safest cities invest in communities, in recreation and parks, in libraries [and] youth development.”  

De Leon and Jurado also discussed their plan to work with the homeless population, specifically during the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles. In Los Angeles County, an estimated 75,312 people were experiencing homelessness, as stated in the 2024 homeless count. For CD-14 the issue of homelessness takes a higher level as it is home to Skid Row, which has one of the largest homeless populations in the U.S. 

“We should continue to house our unhoused,” De Leon said. 

He followed this by saying that under his leadership, CD-14 has built the most interim housing than “in any other place in the entire city of L.A.” He made a reference to the Boyle Heights Tiny Home Village and 1904 Bailey, both housing projects in CD-14. 

“We need safety when the Olympics come,” he added. 

Jurado said De Leon’s leadership has fallen short in his years in office, specifically when it comes to the homeless population and said that housing like the tiny homes is not sufficient for people in the district to live comfortably.

“My opponent has governed this district, Skid Row, for over 20 years. Has homelessness in this district gotten better? We can all agree that it hasn't,” she said. “County Supervisor Hilda Solis put up 200 units that are not just sheds; they have bathrooms, they have places and they have support services. Why hasn't [CD-14] gotten something better than these tiny homes?"

One of De Leon's repeating arguments in various of his answers was the fact that Jurado has never held public office before. “I’ve dedicated my whole life to public service, to the benefit of our people. My opponent, to this day, has not done one single thing,” De Leon said in the first few minutes of the debate. 

In one of the questions about low-income elders in the district, he listed some of his achievements when helping this population, including bringing free vaccines for pets of seniors of this district and food distributions, which, as De Leon noted, help people with basic food needs, including beans, rice and chicken. “The same chicken sold in Whole Foods,” he said.

Jurado defended herself against the reality of never holding public office and said her work as a housing rights attorney and affordable housing activist have given her the tools and experience to lead the district in a different direction than the incumbent, De Leon.  “We can’t keep doing the same thing and expect different results,” Jurado said. ‘We need long-term solutions,” she said. 

Last month, The L.A. Times also reported on Jurado's past political experience, including working on John Choi’s unsuccessful 2013 run for City Council, as well as her work as a scheduler in Mayor Eric Garcetti’s office and how she was appointed by Garcetti to the Human Relations Commission in 2021.

She later added that she was proud to already have the support of some of the L.A. City Council members, such as Eunisses Hernandez, Nithya Raman and Hugo Soto-Martínez, which De Leon later referred to as the “socialist council members.” 

After the debate, CALÒ News talked to both candidates and asked how they thought the debate went. 

“It was a spirited debate, no question about it,” De Leon said. “Sometimes elections can take a real ugly twist that is very similar to Trump-ian characteristics. Like Donald Trump just says whatever he wants to say, no matter how outlandish [or] inaccurate it is.”

When asked the same question, Jurado said, “ I think my opponent said a bunch of lies and said that he has plans for this district when he's had four years to execute all of them. It's really disappointing that only now he suddenly has all these ideas and plans for this district.”

Both candidates told CALÒ News they will continue working until election day and making sure CD-14 residents show up to vote. 

“But I think past the debate[s], it's just [about] keeping your nose to [the] grindstone, working hard, and taking nothing for granted, knocking on those doors and talking directly to voters,” De Leon said. 

Jurado said she still has a couple other events that she and her team are hosting before election day. “I'm out here talking to voters. We want to make sure that people know who I am and that they have other options. People are disappointed. We're going to keep folks engaged and make sure that [they] turn out to the polls,” she said.

Jorge Ramirez, 63, from Lincoln Heights, said he has been supporting De Leon since his time in the State Senate and said he will continue to vote for him because he doesn't know much about his opponent. “He is the type of person we need. He's done a lot for immigrants,” he said. “The other person, we don’t know much about her and she's not very well known. She doesn't have much experience in this field.”

Alejandra Sanchez, whose daughter goes to school in Boyle Heights and lives in El Sereno, said she believes CD-14 has been in desperate need of new leadership and worries that many people will vote for De Leon just because he is who they have known for so long. “It’s very powerful to see a woman leader step in... It's been an incredible year to see a woman president elected in Mexico, a woman running for president in the U.S. and a woman also running for leadership here in our community,’ she said. “That’s part of the problem... we are afraid to think about something new, about the new leadership of someone doing things differently.”

General election day will take place on Tuesday, November 5, 2024. Early voting began on October 7. You can register to vote or check your registration status online on the California Online Voter Registration page.