Mark Ridley-Thomas Wins County Supervisor Seat

In a race against former LAPD Chief and current LA City Councilman Bernard Parks, State Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas won the 2nd District LA County Board of Supervisors seat by nearly 23 percent.

"The new supervisor will claim the most densely packed, ethnically diverse area in the county. It has 2.5 million constituents, and no black politician in California represents more people," reported the LA Times. "The district's core lies in Crenshaw, Watts and Baldwin Hills, the heart of affluent black Los Angeles; around the edges are Marina del Rey, Culver City, Koreatown, Compton, Carson and Inglewood... The area leads the county in residents who are homeless, receive Section 8 housing vouchers and live in unauthorized housing. More than 120,000 residents receive welfare assistance, and 225,000 use food stamps. One of the most acute problems is the sharply diminishing network of healthcare providers."

Ridley-Thomas was heavily supported by unions who raised $8.5 million for him via an independent committee. They raised nine times the amount his own campaign raised.

To see a map of the district, see below: