Marqueece Harris-Dawson took a commanding early lead Tuesday evening in his bid for a third and final term as City Councilman from District 8.
In early results Tuesday, Harris-Dawson was in front with 81.65% of the vote to 12.43% for Cliff Smith and 5.92% for Jahan Epps.
Harris-Dawson appeared on track to winning the seat outright in Tuesday’s balloting and avoiding a potential runoff in November. Per primary rules, if no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, the top two vote-getters would duel in a runoff.
But Harris-Dawson appeared set — again — to claim the seat outright in the primary.
He won the District 8 seat outright in both his previous council primaries — capturing more than 62% of the vote in 2015 and running unopposed in 2020. He would be barred by term limits from seeking the seat again.
The South Los Angeles district seat that encompasses the neighborhoods of Vermont Knolls, King Estates, Canterbury Knolls, Park Mesa Heights, Baldwin Hills, Hyde Park, Chesterfield Square, Vermont Vista, Green Meadows, View Heights and West Park Terrace.
Smith is a roofer and union community organizer. Epps is a business owner and real estate broker.
Harris-Dawson — who chairs the council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee and is former president and CEO of the nonprofit Community Coalition — touted on his campaign website his policies “that combat homelessness, create quality jobs, clean streets, and encourage community policing.”
On homelessness, Harris-Dawson has called for more affordable housing, as well as more public amenities such as parks, groceries and other services for the community. He’s also worked to enshrine strong renter protections in his district, and said he would continue to proactively push to prevent more residents from becoming homeless.
He also wants to increase temporary shelters and improve the conditions at existing ones, as well as add more mental health and substance abuse facilities.
Harris-Dawson and Smith have called for more transparency and accountability from the Los Angeles Police Department.
Harris-Dawson wants more community-engaged policing through programs such as senior lead officers, community partnership and unarmed responses to people experiencing mental health emergencies.
In addition, he has pushed for an end to traffic stops by armed LAPD officers, telling the Los Angeles Times, “I don’t know any driver of color who has not been part of what they consider an unjustified police stop. You cannot do policing in communities that do not trust them.”
Smith, meanwhile, had called for the creation of a police board made up of elected civilians.
Epps had said that funds for the LAPD should be used to support more social workers and programs for alternative response models. He also wants to see more improvements to street safety with more signals, crosswalks or cameras.
Smith advocated for the construction of public and low-income housing and filling vacant living units across the city. He supports acquiring properties through eminent domain, in particular hotels in the district that have become nuisances, and turning them into transitional housing.
Epps, on the other hand, said he would focus on increasing home ownership and making financing more easily available for residents wanting to buy.