Incumbent Claims Resounding Victory with 64 Percent of the Vote
City Councilman Curren Price skated to a second term on March 7, winning 64 percent of the vote in the primary election to maintain his seat as representative of the Ninth Council District of Los Angeles.
The Councilman carried every precinct in the District, beating out challengers Jorge Nuño, a graphic designer, who collected 22 percent of the vote; and Adriana Cabrera, a graduate student, who finished third in the race with 14 percent of the vote.
“I want to thank the constituents in my District for the overwhelming show of support and confidence in my re-election campaign,” Price said. “Since 2013, I have focused attention on critical issues affecting working-class families, such as narrowing the gap of income inequality, creating a healthy pipeline of good-paying jobs and helping make neighborhoods safer and cleaner.
“Our record of achievement speaks for itself, and it is clear residents share my vision for the future of the NEW 9th! This victory represents a tremendous mandate of the people,” Price said.
Throughout his re-election campaign, Price was hailed as a champion of social justice, a unifier and coalition builder. He was endorsed by a diverse coalition of high-profile federal, state and local elected officials, community, faith and labor leaders. His list of supporters included LA Mayor Eric Garcetti; LA County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas; LA City Council President Herb J. Wesson, Jr.; State Senator Pro-Tem Kevin De León and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon; Congresswomen Karen Bass and Lucille Roybal-Allard, to name a few. Among the organizations that backed his re-election efforts were: the Los Angeles County Democratic Party; UNITE HERE Local 11; Service Employees International Union Locals 721 and 2015, and United Firefighters of Los Angeles City, among dozens of other groups, including the Baptist Ministers Conference, plus hundreds of community leaders across the City.
Price said that while he is proud of everything he has accomplished in the City Council, this is a turning point for South LA and it is crucial to keep the momentum going.
“We have made solid gains, but it’s not enough—we must continue to move forward,” Price said. “During my next term, we will build on recent successes and put the needs of our working-class families first.”
In 2014 and 2015, Price, who serves as the Chair of the Council’s Economic Development Committee, led the fight to raise the wage for hotel workers in Los Angeles, and was the author of a landmark legislation to increase the minimum wage for millions of Angelenos to $15 per hour by 2020, respectively. He also led efforts to “ban-the-box” from job applications that asks candidates about their criminal record and delays the background check inquiry until a conditional offer of employment has been made.
He has actively supported local projects that promote economic opportunity, including the $350 million, state-of-the-art Banc of California soccer stadium for the Los Angeles Football Club, currently under construction at Expo Park; and The Reef Project, a residential-retail development that will transform 1,100 parking spots into a vibrant place to live, work, and play. These catalytic projects, and others in the pipeline—which now includes The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art—are helping provide more thousands of good-paying jobs and job-training resources for neighbors.
As a member of the Council’s Homelessness and Poverty Committee, Price was a sponsor of a $1.2 billion bond, which will provide much-needed funding to build up to 10,000 units of permanent housing units with wrap-around support services over the next decade. To keep people from falling into homelessness, Price has worked fervently to increase the stock of affordable housing in the District. To that end, he said that 13 sites have been identified in CD 9, which will provide more than 700 units of new affordable housing for families.
Price added that he remains committed to turn the community around. Under his leadership, more than $40 million has been invested into public parks and recreation; this includes the opening of two new pocket parks. To combat the trash problem and promote cleanliness districtwide, he has led an unprecedented effort to remove more than 15,000 tons of trash since taking office, while adding hundreds of new trash cans along major corridors.
