The oddly shaped 15th Council District is dominated by the Port of Los Angeles and consists of communities that joined Los Angeles early in the 20th century, mostly to link the port to the rest of the city. The shoestring strip now known as Harbor Gateway, along with Harbor City, connect L.A. to the formerly independent harborside cities of Wilmington and San Pedro at the southern end of the district. Watts, also a formerly independent city, connects to the shoestring at the northeastern end.

What’s at stake in the City Council races

Voters will choose who will be their chief steward of city services in each of eight odd-numbered council districts (look up your district here) for the next four years and will determine the ideological makeup and effectiveness of the 15-member City Council.

Challenges include federal immigration enforcement, homelessness, the city’s readiness for the 2027 Super Bowl and the 2028 Summer Olympics and continuing city budget shortfalls.

What does a City Council member do?

Council members have three distinct roles:

• Each member curates their district by identifying local problems and opportunities and working with more than 40 city departments to steer needed services to residents and businesses. They may work to bring in non-city resources in the form of county, state, federal or philanthropic grants. They serve as intermediaries between their constituents and City Hall. Members play a vital role in shaping development in their districts.
  
• As part of the full-time, 15-member council, they set citywide policy, adopt ordinances, commission studies and provide a counterweight and oversight to the mayor and city departments and bureaus. They adopt an annual city budget ($14 billion in 2025-26) based on a proposal provided by the mayor, divvying up money among the Los Angeles Police Department, homeless services, libraries, parks, sidewalk repair and tree-trimming, among other services. They approve or reject the mayor’s appointments to city commissions and to lead most city departments. They focus on areas such as policing and public safety by leading or serving as members of council committees.
  
• Council members often work outside their formal roles through appointment to other governmental boards such as Metro and the Metropolitan Water District and by providing leadership in their communities through assisting charities, schools and civic institutions.

Fast facts about the City Council

• Each City Council member represents about 260,000 Angelenos.
• Annual salary is $244,727.
• A term lasts four years. Members may serve a maximum of three terms.
• City elections are non-partisan.
• Voters may have a chance to enlarge the council from the current 15 members to 25 members under a charter reform proposal that supporters say will provide better representation. (As a point of comparison, several other major cities have far larger councils. New York has a 51-member City Council. Chicago has a 50-member council.) It’s up to the current council whether to put the question on the Nov. 3 ballot.

What it takes to win

Candidates who win more than 50% of the vote June 2 will be sworn into office in December. If no candidate wins more than 50%, a runoff between the top two vote-getters will be held Nov. 3. With two candidates in this primary contest, the winner is likely to be decided in June.

The candidates for City Council District 15

Incumbent Tim McOsker

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Courtesy of the campaign

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Tim McOsker, incumbent

Incumbent Tim McOsker is a lifelong San Pedro resident, except for his collegiate years at the University of Notre Dame. After graduating from law school, he became a specialist in municipal law, eventually becoming chief deputy for Jim Hahn in the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office, where he helped bring Willian Bratton to the city as police chief and worked on a consent decree to reform the LAPD. When Hahn was elected mayor, McOsker became his chief of staff and worked on implementing the new City Charter he had helped draft as a member of a reform commission in the 1990s.

He later worked as a lobbyist and attorney for L.A.’s police officers union and other clients and was chief executive officer at AltaSea, a San Pedro-based nonprofit corporation. He is seeking a second term on the council..

In his first term McOsker branded the 15th District the One-Five to emphasize the equal importance of the five communities that make up the district. He has worked on creating a “cultural crescent” arts district connecting Watts Towers and a historic railroad station and on projects to reclaim former industrial land for housing and business development. He emphasizes his relationship with neighborhood councils, which he helped create while on the charter commission and fund while in the mayor’s office.

He moved a reform of the police discipline process through the City Council, but it was vetoed by the mayor. He is likely to play a prominent role in a new officer discipline reform as it comes to the council from the city’s charter reform commission.

McOsker said he is among a shrinking group of City Hall officials with decades of experience with the budget and the mechanics of city operations.

“There was a time when inside the building there was a cadre of people who understood how things worked,” he said. “It’s important to have people to plan how to approach the next five years. We don’t have that constituency for the future or internal organizational control.”

More voter resources:

• Website: TimMcOsker.com
• District website

Go deeper: 

• LA revives zoning law that could ban some private detention centers from contracting with ICE (LAist)
• Meet the McOskers: How one South Bay family wields power at City Hall (L.A. Times)

Jordan Rivers, community organizer

Jordan Rivers is a 22-year-old community activist who is running to represent the Green Party (city offices are nonpartisan). He has not responded to LAist’s attempts to speak with him.

Rivers' candidacy has stirred controvery because of his background: At age 12 he allegedly stabbed an 8-year-old playmate. His family reportedly paid $10,000 to settle a lawsuit. There was no admission of liability.

More voter resources:

• Website: RiversDeliversForLA.com

Go deeper: 

• Far-left LA City Council candidate brutally stabbed boy, 8, during gaming session: suit (California Post)
• L.A. City Council candidate stays in race after report that he stabbed a boy at age 12 (L.A. Times)

Campaign finance

To see the full list of donors to each campaign, visit the L.A. Ethics Commission’s Public Data Portal and input the name of any candidate under “Committee(s)” and get a full list of contributors to campaigns and independent expenditure committees.