‘F— The Police’ Los Angeles City Council Candidate Tells Supporters

Los Angeles City Council candidate Ysabel Jurado faced public backlash on Monday after telling her supporters “F— the Police” earlier in the day.

In Los Angeles’ 14th City Council District race, City Councilman and former California Senate President Kevin de Leon is pitted against Jurado, a tenants rights attorney. The race has been very competitive, thanks to de Leon’s decades of scandals and gaffes. This has included illegally ghost voting in the Assembly,  voting for bills where companies that backed him before benefited, called much of the state “Tumbleweeds”, not knowing the pledge of allegiance, and perhaps most infamously, made multiple racist remarks in a scandal that resulted in two Councilmembers having to leave office and de Leon barely staying on.

Despite 60% of his constituents against him and continued calls for his resignation, he decided to run for reelection in 2024. He still had a massive block of support stemming from goodwill from decades in the past, but now, he was more politically vulnerable than ever. Jurado, running against him, actually beat him in the primary 25% to 24%, leading to the November run off. However, the race has since settled in to a dead heat, with many residents turned off by her more progressive leanings. Many in the district are upset that the two candidates are a far-left progressive who wants to shift money from the LAPD to other areas and a scandal-ridden lawmaker who has somehow remained in office for what most other politicians would have been  the end of their careers.

However, the race was rocked on Monday when Jurado was answering questions about police spending at CSU Los Angeles. When a question came about police overtime funding, who said “As someone who is myself pro-abolishment of police, where do you stand on that spectrum?”, Jurado responded by saying “What’s the rap verse? F— the police, that’s how I see them. The city’s budget is broken, with the LAPD funded more than it’s actually ever been funded before.”

Police unions and many citizens groups quickly went after her for the remarks, with some actually pulling support following it. In a statement, de Leon said that “Her comments were disrespectful. I stand where I’ve always stood, 100% behind our front-line officers who go out every day risking their lives to protect Angelenos across our city.”

Jurado also quickly responded to the growing criticism, saying that police spending was high and that “In a meeting with students at Cal State L.A., I quoted a lyric from a song that’s been part of a larger conversation on systemic injustice and police accountability for decades. But it was just a lyric. And I’m proud to be accessible to young people and students, listening to their concerns and treating them like the future leaders they are.”

Nonetheless, Jurado’s remarks reverberated on Monday, with many pollsters now believing that the remarks will cost her enough votes for her to lose next month.

“All Jurado had to do was coast to victory and not do anything stupid,” explained LA County pollster Manny Rodriguez to the Globe on Monday. “She could have been a lot more subtle or said that she thought police funding was too high and that police needed to be reduced. Or something. Instead she decided to say one of the worst things possible in a race where crime and public safety were some of the top issues.

“Now we haven’t done a poll just on the district, but previous polling there for Mayoral and House races have shown that crime is a big concern there. So she just gave de Leon the best October surprise he could hope for. She just made him look like a dignified elder statesman with how he handled it. Do you know how hard it is for people to feel empathy for him? She just did it.

“This is a race where neither candidate, to voters, is a good option. Most voters think that. And now, she just gave the race to de Leon.”

More on the police comment is expected to come out this week.