Kevin de León's spending in support of 3 ballot measures helps boost his reelection campaign. It's legal, but is it fair?

Los Angeles City Councilmember Kevin De León, who is in a much-watched race for reelection, is getting a big boost to his campaign.

The tactic he's using — spending money set aside for a future run for higher office — allows him to send glossy mailers and text messages to his constituents touting his support for three measures on the November ballot.

It gets his face and name out in front of voters who could help him keep his council seat.

It's legal, but his opponent says it's a problem.

“He’s using that as a sneaky way to boost his campaign," said Naomi Villagomez Roochnik, a spokesperson for Ysabel Jurado, the other candidate in the race. "It's dishonest. It's shady. And it's very on brand for him.”

A spokesman for De León’s campaign committee did not return a call for comment.

Follow the money

De León, a former leader of the state Senate, created a campaign committee and amassed $3 million to run for lieutenant governor in 2026.

This was before the scandal that cast a shadow over his political future, when he was heard on secret audio recordings made in 2021 and revealed in 2022 in which he made racist and derogatory remarks with other city leaders.

Largely because of that scandal, De León is now locked in a tough battle for reelection to the city council’s 14th district on the Eastside, which includes downtown, Boyle Heights, Highland Park, Eagle Rock.

He’s pulled more than a half million dollars from that lieutenant governor campaign war chest and put it into a committee promoting three measures on the November ballot: One would raise the minimum wage, one would expand rent control and the third would enshrine gay marriage in the state constitution.

It's legal, so what's the problem?

It's a tactic that allows De León to send to his constituents glossy mailers and text messages that tout his support for these three measures. That gets his face and name in front of voters.

Many watching the campaign said it's tantamount to advertising for his council reelection campaign.

Sean McMorris of the watchdog group Common Cause said it also allows De León to avoid city rules regarding raising money directly for his council run.

“All those contribution limits they have on their candidate committee account, they don’t have there. There also are no spending restrictions or anything like that,” McMorris said.

De León is out-fundraising Jurado in this race already, making his fundraising advantage even bigger.

Jurado, a tenants' rights attorney, is seeking to join the progressive block on the L.A. City Council. This is her first campaign.

It is expected to be a close race.

Jurado won the primary by 400 votes over De León, but she’s raised less money than De León for the general election. Through June 30, she raised about $125,000 to De Leon’s nearly $300,000, according to campaign finance disclosures.

What effect could this have on the campaign?

Political consultant Michael Trujillo, who is not affiliated with either campaign, said the extra spending on the three measures is great publicity for De León.

“Obviously, when you’re running a political campaign, you want to take advantage of every single way to communicate, of every single way to get your name out there, of every single way to tell a positive story about your candidacy,” he said.

Trujillo said De León's not the first politician to use this strategy. He noted that Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo created a ballot committee promoting Proposition 1 on the March ballot when she was also running for De León's seat.

Carrillo finished fourth in the race.