For the first time in roughly 60 years, Los Angeles City Council District 9 is heading into the June 2 primary without a single Black candidate on the ballot. Six contenders qualified to run — Estuardo Mazariegos, Elmer Roldan, Jorge Hernández Rosas, Jorge Nuño, Martha Sánchez and Jose Ugarte — in a seat that has been held by Black councilmembers ever since Gilbert Lindsay won it in 1963.
Who qualified for the June ballot
According to the Los Angeles City Clerk, six candidates made the cut for the District 9 primary ballot: Estuardo Mazariegos, Elmer Roldan, Jorge Hernández Rosas, Jorge Nuño, Martha Sánchez and Jose Ugarte. The clerk's report lists Chris Martin and Michelle Washington as having insufficient signatures. Martin has said he plans to challenge that finding in court. With no Black candidate among those who qualified, the June primary is shaping up as a test of whether South L.A.'s long-running Black Latino political coalition can hold.
Demographics and history
South Los Angeles today looks very different from the South L.A. that first elected Lindsay. A U.S. Census Bureau special census from 1965 recorded the area as about 81% Black. By contrast, the city's City of Los Angeles redistricting data from 2021 shows Council District 9 at roughly 78% Latino and 13% Black. Those demographic shifts, decades in the making, help explain why today's ballot looks so different from the politics of the mid 20th century.
Voices on the ground
Some residents and community leaders say the absence of Black candidates feels like a breaking point. "The story of Black political power in the city of Los Angeles is dying," said Chris Martin, who campaigned but did not qualify, according to LAist. Martin has indicated he will contest the clerk's ruling in court.
Endorsements and candidate positioning
In a six person field, alliances and endorsements are doing a lot of early work. Elmer Roldan has secured support from Mayor Karen Bass and City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson, according to the Elmer Roldan campaign, and his supporters argue that his platform focuses on protecting residents from displacement.
Jose Ugarte, a top fundraiser in the race and a deputy to current District 9 Councilmember Curren Price, has Price's backing. Ugarte has also drawn ethics scrutiny, as reported by the Los Angeles Times. Those dynamics are giving voters an early look at how much of the old political order will carry over into the next council term.
What voters need to know
The rules of the road for this election are straightforward, but the calendar is tight. Per the Los Angeles City Clerk, voters must register by May 18 to receive a vote by mail ballot. The primary is set for June 2, and Los Angeles County is scheduled to certify the results by July 2.
If no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote, the top two finishers will move on to the Nov. 3 general election. Newly elected councilmembers are slated to take office in mid December, giving the next District 9 representative only a short runway to transition into the job.
Why this matters
Beyond the symbolic weight of who sits in the council seat, political scientists say this race is ultimately about who can knit together a multiracial coalition in a changing district. USC sociologist Manuel Pastor argues that any successful officeholder will have to "weave together both populations" — Latino and Black voters — to govern a district whose demographics have shifted but whose communities and needs remain closely connected, according to reporting in Capital & Main.
