L.A. City Councilman Herb Wesson was early into his bid for a seat on the Board of Supervisors when the endorsements and donations from law enforcement started flowing in. The biggest prize: $500,000 from the union that represents a majority of county sheriff’s deputies.
But that was all before the police killing of George Floyd in late May and a spate of local police shootings that prompted protests and renewed calls for increased police oversight.
The law enforcement endorsements, initially celebrated by Wesson, have now put him on the defensive as his opponent, state Sen. Holly Mitchell, tries to gain ground in a close race that has the two veteran politicians scrambling for a powerful seat long held by Black politicians.
The candidates are vying to replace term-limited Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas in the 2nd Supervisorial District, a swath of the county from Culver City to Carson that represents 2 million people, including a growing Latino population and about half the county’s Black residents.
Read the full story on LATimes.com.
