It’s Friday night happy hour at the Distrito Catorce bar in Boyle Heights, and regulars are noticing that the crowd listening to the Spanish-language jam has a few more unusual faces than usual.
The reason quickly becomes clear, as Los Angeles City Council Member Nithya Raman pours in happy hour with Nithya, sipping a rimmed Tajin drink and making the rounds to launch his mayoral campaign.
Albert Orozco, 24, said he appreciates his efforts to reach Latino voters, including an ad in which Raman speaks Spanish.
“We need a mayor who can communicate directly with the Spanish-speaking community,” Orozco said. He said he voted for Karen Bass four years ago but is considering voting for Raman in the June 2 primary.
Latinos make up about 37% of LA’s electorate, making their votes important to anyone with mayoral aspirations. That includes campaigns that place ads and social media posts in Spanish, reaching out to many Latino communities and lobbying for important consensus.
“Whoever wins the Latino vote will win the election,” said Loyola Marymount University political science professor Fernando Guerra.
Right now that seems to be incumbent Mayor Bass, making it an uphill battle for Raman and other candidates.
A poll by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, sponsored by The Times, found Bass leading with 29% support from Latino voters; former TV star Spencer Pratt followed with 16%, social organizer Rae Huang with 14% and Raman with 9%. Tech entrepreneur Adam Miller gained 3% support.
In April, a poll by the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs also found Bass in the lead.
“I think you have an opportunity to strengthen the Latino vote with strong grassroots work,” said Matt Barreto, a professor of political science and Chicana/o studies at UCLA. “This is his for the taking.”
But there’s plenty of room for growth — for either candidate: Both polls that received a large portion of Latino voters were undecided, giving the contenders a chance to win them over in the coming weeks. And as the final phase approaches, campaigns kick into high gear.
Ruben Jr., whose last name has not been released, of East Los Angeles, takes a picture of his father, Ruben Sr., during a community meet and greet for mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt as he leaves a home for sale in Sherman Oaks on Saturday.
(Etienne Laurent / For The Times)
In general, voter turnout in LA tends to be very small in primary elections, especially in Latino communities, Barreto said, so people vying for their vote need continued outreach to Latino neighborhoods.
In the last mayoral election of 2022, voter turnout increased across all demographic groups, but the share of Latino voters did not. Some of this is attributed to Latinos being young people, the state of immigration and the lack of voter history in the US This year, Latinos make up 35% of the electorate but less than a quarter of the electorate.
Guerra said it is often assumed that Latinos will not be as successful as other groups, and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. A successful campaign can break that cycle, he said.
Those efforts may be bolstered by the governor’s race, which includes prominent Latinos, including former US Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and former LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
“You could have a historic result for Latinos … in LA because of the strength of that race,” said Michael Trujillo, a Democratic strategist who supports Villaraigosa. “So the question for the gubernatorial candidates is: Who has the best chance of riding that historic wave?”
A piñata rests on a tree at the Avance Democratic Club’s political event and tacos at Ernest E. Debs Regional Park in Los Angeles on Saturday.
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
In March, Bass presents Latinos con Bass in Lincoln Park. The event included Sen. María Elena Durazo, Angelica Salas, president of the Californians for Human Immigrant Leadership Action Fund, or CHIRLA Action Fund, and Nilza Serrano, president of the Avance Democratic Club.
In meetings with Latino leaders and in his TV campaign ads, Bass has emphasized his stance against immigration and Customs Enforcement raids introduced by the Trump administration in Los Angeles last year.
“He stood in some of the toughest, toughest times here in the city of Los Angeles, when ICE and Border Patrol were on our streets,” Salas said of Bass. His organization is the political arm of CHIRLA, which helps families affected by immigration attacks. “He fought for our families to stay together.”
Serrano said Bass received support from Avance this year, following a strained relationship after the group endorsed Rick Caruso for mayor in 2022. Bass suggested that Caruso had bought that but then apologized.
“We had a real, honest conversation about some of the things that the Latino community is missing under his administration, and he didn’t shy away, which was exciting,” Serrano said. He said ‘help me get better.’
Bass credits his support from Latinos to years of grassroots collaboration.
“We planned together in living rooms in the 1980s,” he said in a statement. “We’ve fought together for our schools, our streets, and our families ever since. … That’s not something you build in a campaign – it’s earned, day by day.”
He also defeated Council Member Monica Rodriguez, who said she was voting for Bass.
“Obviously, I’ve been very critical, and he and I have had differences of opinion,” said Rodriguez in the interview. But Bass, he said, is the standout in his leadership, such as his role in averting a strike by LA Unified School District workers. “There are a lot of ideas about how I can make sure I protect the city in the best possible way.”
Councilwoman and mayoral candidate Nithya Raman addresses the crowd at the “Nithya Families” event in the West Adams community of South Los Angeles on Saturday.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
Raman says Latinos voters are “a key part of our growing coalition.”
“We’ve organized campaign events to connect with the Latino community, we’re participating in prominent cultural events and our volunteers from all backgrounds are knocking on doors across the city,” he said in a statement.
Polls show Pratt, a former TV star whose home burned in the Palisades fire, is second only to Bass in the Latino vote. His campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
An account called Latinos Por Pratt is not affiliated with his campaign but supports his mayoral bid.
Adrian E. Alvarez, who runs the group’s website, created a song titled “Spencer, Saca La Bassura,” a reference to Pratt’s epithet for the mayor from the Spanish word for trash. Pratt recently posted a five-minute video in which he criticized Bass’ previous visit to Cuba and said “the only thing the Hispanic community hates more than bad politicians … COMMUNISTS.”
“My Latino brothers and sisters have seen the evil of communism, and they’re done with it,” Pratt said in the video.
Mayor Spencer Pratt, back on camera, speaks to supporters during an event in Sherman Oaks on Saturday.
(Etienne Laurent / For The Times)
Claudia Agraz, a board member of the Los Angeles Hispanic Republican Club, said she plans to vote for Pratt because she feels that under Bass, the city did not provide enough money for the fire and police departments.
“What we have right now is not working for us, and it would be nice to see a change for the better outcomes for the city of Los Angeles,” Agraz said.
Some conservative Latinos are reluctant to support Pratt. David Hernandez, chairman of the Hispanic Republican Club, said he was a supporter of Pratt as he championed the Palisades fire victims, but the candidate lacks extensive experience in city administration.
“Without having a little knowledge about how chorizo is made, you can’t be a great kitchen chef,” Hernandez said.
Pratt’s support in LA will hit the roof, said UCLA’s Barreto, noting that the candidate has not taken as hard a line against ICE raids as other candidates. During a televised mayoral debate this month, Pratt was asked to clarify his status with ICE.
“If they’re legal or illegal, if they’re dangerous — I want them off our streets, that’s what I said,” Pratt said during the May 6 debate. “ICE is not going to come here because … everybody they say they want, they’re going to be in jail when I’m mayor.”
The other two in the race — Huang, a community activist, and Miller, a tech entrepreneur — are far behind in the polls but are also running for a share of the Latino vote.
Huang makes an effort every day to meet people in all corners of society, said Amy Quichiz, Huang’s campaign manager, who is originally from Colombia and Peru.
“We, as Latinos, know that we don’t trust politicians,” he said. “So if you get to know Rae by saying ‘oh, she’s a friend of your contractor,’ ‘Rae is a friend of our nanny’ … that’s your guarantor, and that’s who they’re going to trust.”
Miller, through his nonprofit organization Better Angels, has spent years working on the Eastside to address homelessness. In late April, he spent an afternoon in Boyle Heights, meeting with 50 business owners and residents who shared concerns about public safety and infrastructure.
“It’s true that Karen Bass is getting support — especially Latinas — and she’s going to keep that support, so that’s not fair to her opponents,” Miller said. But he added: “Those who are undecided have already decided that they do not support Bass, so they must decide who they support when facing Bass.”
