Since October 2022, there have been widespread calls for his resignation after an audio recording of him and other council members making racist, homophobic, and derogatory remarks was leaked. He was formally censured by the Los Angeles City Council in a unanimous 12–0 vote on October 26, 2022.[3] In December 2022, De León gained further notoriety when he was videotaped in a physical conflict with an activist, in which de León "grabs [the activist] and throws him into a table."[4]
Early life and education
Kevin Leon was born in Los Angeles, to Carmen Osorio and Andrés Leon. Both his parents were born in Guatemala with his father being of full or partial Chinese descent. His mother moved from Guatemala to Tijuana, Mexico in the 1960s. She moved to Los Angeles to work as a housekeeper. A single mother with two children, she met Leon's father who was largely absent. His mother married a man of Mexican descent, taking the name Carmen Osorio Núñez, and relocated to San Diego.[2] She divorced and raised him in the Logan Heights neighborhood in San Diego. He also spent part of his youth in Tijuana where his stepfather's family was located.[2] He strongly identifies with Mexican culture.[2]
De León attended Perkins Elementary School, Albert Einstein Elementary School Roosevelt Middle School, and San Diego High School.[5] The first in his family to graduate from high school, he briefly attended the University of California, Santa Barbara before dropping out. He later earned a bachelor's degree from Pitzer College in 2003.[6] While attending UC Santa Barbara, he began going by Kevin de León though he has never legally changed his name.[2]
In 2008, eyewitnesses on the floor of the state assembly observed de León casting a so-called ghost vote for assemblywoman Mary Hayashi on an affordable housing bill, opposite the way she would have voted, when Hayashi was away from the assembly floor. De León said he had no memory of the incident but also said he did not deny it, either.[10] De León was investigated by then-state assembly speaker Karen Bass, but did not face any punishment and the vote was later changed. As a result of the controversy, Bass changed assembly rules to enforce a ban on ghost voting.[11]
De León sponsored SB 100, which would have required the state of California to generate 50% renewable electricity by 2026 and 100% renewable electricity by 2045.[14][15] In 2018, the bill passed both houses of the California state legislature and was signed into law by governor Jerry Brown on September 10.[16]
In late 2017, de León was criticized for playing a role in killing a bill that would have blocked the controversial Cadiz Water Project, a proposal to mine and transfer groundwater from protected desert habitat in Eastern San Bernardino county to parts of Orange county.[17] Opponents of the project blamed De León, then president pro tempore of the senate, and pointed out that the company behind the project had donated $5,000 to De León's political campaign. Fabian Nuñez, a close ally and donor to De León, also represented company as its lobbyist.[18]
De León criticized the state's high-speed rail project, arguing that construction should have started in major cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles, rather than the state's Central Valley.[19]
Gun control
De León is an advocate of gun control.[20] In 2014, he sponsored SB 808, which addressed the personal fabrication of firearms.[21] The bill was subsequently vetoed by governor Jerry Brown.
In 2016, De León led the charge in the passage of a package of 11 bills intended to prevent gun violence. These included De León's SB 1235, which created a new framework for buying and selling ammunition designed to address the ambiguities of his earlier SB 53, and his SB 1407, requiring a serial number from the California Department of Justice before building or assembling a gun.[22][23]
Health care
De León is a supporter of creating a single-payer health care system. He promised to support senator Bernie Sanders's "Medicare for All" legislation if elected to the United States Senate.[24] He supported SB 562, a proposed bill to create a single payer health care system in California, which stalled in 2017.[25]
Gender equity
De León authored SB 548, legislation that would make significant investments in child care, with a focus on empowering women in the workforce. The state budget resulted with new funding for thousands of more slots for subsidized child care.[26][27]
In 2014, de León co-authored Yes Means Yes, the first law in the nation regarding affirmative consent and sought both to improve how universities handle rape and sexual assault cases and to clarify the standards, requiring an "affirmative consent" and stating that consent can't be given if someone is asleep or incapacitated by drugs or alcohol. "Lack of protest or resistance does not mean consent," the law states, "nor does silence mean consent."[28] In 2015, de León co-authored follow-up legislation that requires public high schools teaching health education classes to include sexual assault prevention and strategies on how to build healthy peer relationships in their curricula.[29][30]
2018 U.S. Senate election
De León walking during a parade with supporters, 2018.
On October 15, 2017, de León announced his bid for the United States Senate, challenging incumbent U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein in the 2018 election.[31] The following day a super PAC created by California political strategists Dave Jacobson and Maclen Zilber was formed to support his candidacy.[32] On June 5, de León came in second place in the nonpartisan blanket primary with 12% of the total vote, enough to advance to the November general election. Feinstein received 44%, while the third place candidate, James Bradley, received 8% of the total vote. Republican candidates collectively received 33% of the vote.[33][34]
De León's 12% was the lowest ever recorded for a candidate who advanced to the general election since California instituted its nonpartisan blanket primary rules in 2016. In July, De León won the endorsement of the California Democratic Party at their executive board meeting in Oakland.[35] Despite the endorsement, however, De León's campaign faced fundraising struggles and low name recognition.[36][37]
On November 6, 2018, Feinstein defeated De León 54.2% to 45.8%. The race had an undervote of around 1.3 million votes compared to the gubernatorial election, likely by Republican voters choosing not to cast a vote for either candidate.[38]
Los Angeles City Council (2020–present)
In 2020, de León was a candidate for a March special election to the Los Angeles city council. The seat had previously been vacated by José Huizar, who was the subject of an investigation into possible corruption charges. In June 2020, Huizar was arrested and charged with several counts of bribery and corruption. De León was elected in the special election to succeed him, and assumed office on October 15, 2020.[39]
After winning election, de León was paid $110,000 by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) for consultancy work, as well as over $100,000 from an electrical workers' union for work as a strategic advisor.[40] His salary as council member was $220,000.[40] Once in the City Council, de León and AHF promoted each other's interests. De León also pressured his staff not to investigate various health and code violations at properties owned by AHF in De León's district.[40] Internal communications revealed by the L.A. Times showed that De León told a staff member that angry messages are "coming from the top" about a staff member's visit to one of AHF's properties.[40] Ethics experts expressed concerns about conflicts of interests in the relationship between the two and the failure to disclose the payment.[40]
In 2021, de León advocated against SB 9, which would allow for the construction of duplexes in lots that are zoned as single-family home neighborhoods. The bill was intended to alleviate the severe housing shortage in California.[41] That same year, de León sought to stall the construction of a rapid transit bus line through Eagle Rock,[42] which prompted a critical editorial by the Los Angeles Times which characterized de León as a "spoiler."[43]
In 2022, de León championed the "Clean Streets Now" plan, his plan to reduce illegal dumping throughout the city.
[44]
In October 2022, de León apologized after an audio recording of a private 2021 meeting attended by himself, fellow Council member Gil Cedillo, Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera, and Council president Nury Martinez came to light in which Nury Martinez made racist remarks about the adopted black son of their white City Council colleague Mike Bonin, comparing Bonin's treatment of his son to the way one handles a handbag. They also used slurs against indigenous Oaxacan people who live in Koreatown, and discussed redistricting in order to break up black voting districts, turning them into Latino ones through the process of gerrymandering. He compared black voices to the man behind the curtain in The Wizard of Oz, arguing that they are in fact weaker than they sound. The recording was leaked onto the internet and subsequently reported by the Los Angeles Times.
Calls for resignation and recall attempts
In the aftermath of the City Hall controversy, dozens of prominent politicians and leaders called for de León's resignation, including President Joe Biden, Mike Bonin,[45] and Southern California News Group opinion editor Sal Rodriguez.[46] On October 19, in an interview with CBS Los Angeles, de León stated his adamant refusal to resign, claiming that his constituents need to be represented by him. He did not take responsibility so much for his own words as he did for his failure in having not put a stop to the conversation, and attempted to spin his joke comparing Bonin's son to a handbag as having been more of a joke about Martinez's penchant for luxury accessories than it was a racist one at the child's expense.[47] Bonin has stated that he was, "really disappointed, and sort of disgusted" by the answers de León gave in the interview. He went on to say that de León had simply left him a voicemail, which did not amount to an apology. Other than that, de León has not spoken to Bonin since the recording was leaked.[48] On October 26, the City Council unanimously voted 12–0 to formally censure de Léon along with Cedillo and Martinez for their actions.[3]
Recall paperwork was filed by five of de León's constituents on October 27, 2022, with leadership problems and the racist audio leak cited as major reasons for recalling de León.[49] However, the recall campaign failed to acquire the required 20,437 signatures by the deadline—and as a result, no recall referendum was held.[50] Nury Martinez had faced a brief recall effort led by Alex Gruenenfelder prior to her resignation,[51] and Gil Cedillo was too late in his tenure to be recalled. Prior to the scandal, there had been three unsuccessful attempts to recall de León, on the grounds of his failure to tackle homelessness and adequately support law enforcement. All four of these efforts were coordinated by Eagle Rock resident Pauline Adkins.[52]
In December 2022, de León was involved in a fight with protestors at a community event.[53] Video of the incident was subsequently released which showed that the physical altercation started when a community activist blocked de León while de León attempted to exit the building, and ending with de Leon's hands near the activist's neck as he pulled the activist down onto a table.[54]
2024 primary election
Running for reelection in 2024, Kevin de León came in second place in the top-two primary, with Ysabel Jurado, a tenants rights attorney and affordable housing activist, coming in first.[55] The two will run off in November.
Personal life
De León lives in Los Angeles and has an adult daughter, Lluvia Carrasco. Carrasco's mother is San Jose councilmember Magdalena Carrasco.[56] De León has never been married.[57]
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