Earlier today, the three candidates for City Council who swept a surprise victory four years ago under the banner of the Change Slate “pulled papers” to collect signatures to make the fall ballot. Mayor Phil Brock along with Councilmembers Oscar de la Torre and Christine Parra will be running together this year.
It was widely expected that Brock and De la Torre would be seeking re-election. Brock has been fundraising and De la Torre had told so many close associates he was running that both the Lookout and Next had reported he was running before today’s announcement. Parra was a question mark for personal reasons, but seems fired up for the election.
The race should be a spirited one, as the Council has been split 4-3 for the past two years with four more conservative members (the three Change Slate candidates and Lana Negrete who was elected two years ago) often voting in unison against the three more progressive members (Councilmembers Caroline Torosis and Jesse Zwick who were elected two years ago and Gleam Davis who won’t be seeking re-election).
With four seats up for grabs, if even one of the Change Slate candidates loses their re-election bid it could lead to a change in the Council depending who wins the seats. A group of four challengers (Dan Hall, Ellis Raskin, Barry Snell and Natalya Zernitskaya) have banded together under the banner of “United Democratic Slate” and have earned an impressive round of endorsements from a host of local and regional political groups including Santa Monicans for Renters Rights, the Santa Monica Democratic Club, the Sierra Club and several others. This slate is considered to be allies of Torosis and Zwick.
But there are other challengers that are emerging in a crowded field. Former Los Angeles Times journalist Janet McLaughlin is a newcomer to the political scene but has been attracting attention to her campaign. Manju Raman has been a member of the Public Safety Reform Oversight Commission and a board member for the Police Athletic League. Ericka Lesley is chair of the city’s Rent Control Board (a city-wide elected position) and was recently removed as a member of the Downtown Santa Monica Inc. board of directors in a 4-3 vote spearheaded by the Change Slate and Negrete.
