Los Angeles City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson is facing a recall attempt after a draft petition was filed and approved for circulation this week. The Los Angeles City Clerk announced Wednesday that the petition had cleared the first procedural hurdle, setting off a signature-gathering campaign that organizers must complete within the next several months.
The recall effort was reported as underway Thursday, according to MyNewsLA.com, which confirmed that the city clerk signed off on the draft petition a day earlier. Harris-Dawson represents the Eighth Council District, an area that stretches across parts of South Los Angeles. A separate report from Patch likewise noted that a petition to recall the council president is underway, though it offered no additional detail beyond confirming the effort's existence.
What It Takes to Force a Recall Vote
To force a recall election, proponents must gather 21,569 valid signatures from registered voters living in District 8, a number the city clerk's office says represents 15% of the district's registered voter base, per the same MyNewsLA report. Organizers face a February 25, 2027 deadline to file those signatures. Neither Harris-Dawson's office nor the recall proponents had immediately responded to requests for comment, the outlet reported.
State rules governing how such petitions move forward are laid out in guidance from the California Secretary of State, which specifies that a recall petition can be circulated by any person 18 years of age or older and that signature spaces must be consecutively numbered. Separate petition materials reviewed from the Los Angeles County elections office indicate that recall efforts typically require at least 30 proponents, though more may be required by law. The number of signatures needed to actually qualify a recall for the ballot is governed by provisions within the California Elections Code.
Backdrop of Prior Friction Around Harris-Dawson
In March, the Los Angeles Police Protective League sent letters urging both the Los Angeles County district attorney and the Los Angeles city attorney to investigate matters tied to a traffic stop involving Harris-Dawson, according to ABC7.
Harris-Dawson said at the time he had been stopped by a Los Angeles School Police officer near Adams Boulevard after driving on the 110 Freeway and was cited for crossing a double yellow line, the station reported. The Los Angeles Unified School District said its officer conducted the stop based on an observed moving violation and issued a citation, consistent with standard traffic enforcement.
Separately, community tension has built around the redevelopment of the former Fire Station 54 at 5730 S. Crenshaw Boulevard in Hyde Park, which is being converted into the Manchester Junior Arts Center, according to Our Weekly. The project has been described as an $11.5 million adaptive reuse effort, though that outlet noted the final project total has not yet been settled.
A Recent Precedent That Fizzled Before Reaching Voters
Los Angeles has seen a council recall effort stall before it ever reached the ballot. An attempt to recall then-Councilman Mike Bonin was initiated in September 2017, with organizers needing roughly 26,000 valid signatures from his council district to trigger an election, according to Ballotpedia. That campaign targeted Bonin over his support for a city ordinance that eliminated traffic lanes to reduce collisions.
Organizers submitted a notice of recall against Bonin on November 3, 2017, but the effort collapsed less than three weeks later. The city clerk determined that the locally published statement of reasons for the recall had omitted some of the required grounds, ending the campaign on November 21, 2017, without a vote ever being held. Whether the Harris-Dawson effort will reach a similar fate, qualify for the ballot, or stall for procedural reasons remains to be seen as the signature-gathering clock now runs toward the February 2027 deadline.
