Who gets to keep power in LA?

How race and identity are shaping politics, policy and power.

Oct 18, 2022 View in browser   By Brakkton Booker With help from Jesús Rodríguez, Alex Nieves, Jesse Naranjo, Rishika Dugyala and Teresa Wiltz POLITICO illustration/AP Photo What up, Recast family! Some 8 million have applied to the Biden administration's student loan debt relief program. Debate season ramps up with Georgia's gubernatorial candidates Stacey Abrams (D) and GOP Gov. Brian Kemp sparring Monday, while Rep. Val Demings (D) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R) go head-to-head Tuesday night in Florida's Senate contest. Plus, more head scratching moves from Ye. First, though, we look at more fallout from the L.A. City Council saga.  Los Angeles, my hometown, is still reeling from the damning audio recording of powerful Latino elected officials engaging in disparaging and racist banter, exposing racial tensions in the nation's second-largest city. Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León , both members of the City Council, were stripped of their committee posts on Monday by the acting Los Angeles council president. The two, as of now, remain defiant, resisting a cavalcade of demands that they vacate their seats — immediately. Among those calling for their resignation are President Joe Biden and the two candidates in the midst of a heated mayoral contest: Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) and billionaire developer Rick Caruso. Nury Martinez speaks during an April 1, 2022, news conference at Los Angeles City Hall. | Damian Dovarganes/AP Photo The others on the recording, Nury Martinez, the former LA council president, and Ron Herrera, the former head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, resigned last week. In the hourlong recording, first reported by the Los Angeles Times last week, Martinez, who was the the city's first Latina council president, called a gay member of the council a "little bitch." She also referred to that same member's Black son as a "little monkey" in Spanish, adding that the boy deserves a "beatdown." And she also disparaged Indigenous people from Oaxaca, Mexico, prompting vehement indignation. Comunidades Indígenas en Liderazgo and leaders from Indigenous communities across California hold signs during a demonstration Saturday urging the resignation of Council Members Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo in Los Angeles. | Richard Vogel/AP Photo But the crux of the conversation was fundamentally about power: who has it, how to keep it and from whom it should be siphoned. The talk took place sometime last year while the city was embroiled in the once-a-decade process of redrawing district boundaries in the aftermath of the 2020 census. Los Angeles, not unlike other major cities including New York and Chicago , has experienced rapid growth among its Latino populations — which inevitably leads to questions about why that demographic expansion hasn't led to broader legislative and political representation. Latinos make up roughly half of the nearly 4 million residents who call LA home, but only held four of the council's 15 seats. (After Martinez's resignation, they now total three.) In the tape, the group discussed how to limit the power and influence of Black council members who represent Latino-heavy districts. Antonio Villaraigosa, who served as mayor of Los Angeles from 2005-2013, says the dearth of Latino representation on the council is worth discussing. Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa speaks during the primary-night watch party for Rep. Karen Bass, a Democratic candidate for LA mayor, Tuesday, June 7, 2022, in Los Angeles. | John McCoy/AP Photo "That's a legitimate issue," Villaraigosa tells The Recast. "But guess what? If you listen to the tape, they weren't trying to expand the number of districts and Latinos. They were trying to protect their own damn districts." Martinez, for instance, expressed frustration that the city's redistricting commission proposed moving economic assets, which include the Anheuser-Busch brewery, out of her San Fernando Valley-area district. Villaraigosa, who attended a Democratic fundraising event in the city with Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday, says the recording feeds into a narrative that the Black and brown coalition in LA is a fragile, yet volatile alliance. That's not true, he says. Protestors demonstrate outside City Hall calling for the resignations of LA City Council Members Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo, Oct. 12, 2022 in Los Angeles, Calif. | Mario Tama/Getty Images As an example, he points out that he backed Bass, who is Black, for mayor. He also credits the support of Black and Latino voters who elected him as the first Latino mayor of the city. Many view Bass, a longtime activist who led a South LA-based community group for more than a decade before entering politics, as the politician who's best positioned to handle a racial reconciliation . She co-founded the Community Coalition in 1990 with the direct goal of uniting Black and Latino communities to fight poverty and crime. But the city's Black-Latino allegiance isn't always rock solid. After Harris was elected vice president, California Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Alex Padilla, the son of Mexican immigrants, to fill the remainder of her Senate term. It caused much consternation to some Black leaders who argued a Black woman should have been named . I spoke to Padilla about this earlier this year at our inaugural Recast Power List Summit . His answer: "Representation is not an either or" proposition. Then there's Curren Price Jr., one of three Black LA City Council members. He won his primary this summer by a ratio of 2 to 1 in his 9th District seat, which he estimates is around 80 percent Latino. He's now among a handful of current City Council members seeking to succeed Martinez as council president. Price tells me that he'd like to see the council expanded to increase the odds for more representation of people of color. "That," he says, "provides closer government to more people in ways that we just haven't done." He also says he'll work with the new mayor to help heal the city. Los Angeles City Council Members Gil Cedillo, left, and Kevin de León sit in chamber before starting the Los Angeles City Council meeting, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022. | Ringo H.W. Chiu/AP Photo But before that can happen, he says, Cedillo and de León have got to go. As always, we'll be keeping tabs on how this all plays out. All the best, The Recast Team   Power dynamics are changing. With The Recast, you'll get a twice-weekly breakdown of how race and identity are the DNA of American politics and policy. Was this forwarded to you by a friend? Subscribe to the newsletter here .   SCOTUS FALLOUT John Fitisemanu displays his U.S. passport, which contains a message reading, "The bearer is a United States national and not a United States citizen." | Courtesy of Equally American The Supreme Court on Monday declined to take a case that had the potential to redefine the status of the United States' colonial territories. My colleague Jesús Rodríguez breaks down what it all means. The case, Fitisemanu v. United States, could have decided whether birthright citizenship extends to the roughly 3.6 million people living in the five territories, which include Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands and Puerto Rico. Although taken together their population is about the same as that of the five least-populous states, the residents of these territories are not considered U.S. citizens by birth. Lead plaintiff John Fitisemanu , who hails from American Samoa, is only considered a "national" of the United States — meaning he and others like him are barred from voting in elections, working certain jobs and sponsoring family members for U.S. immigration status. Some residents of these territories do carry U.S. passports, but it varies by territory. Fitisemanu, for example, carries a U.S. passport but it explicitly notes that he's not a U.S. citizen. This unequal citizenship status, and the fact that it continues today, is a remnant of a series of Supreme Court decisions from the early 20th century, known as the Insular Cases, that sanctioned this framework. As lawyer Neil Weare tells The Recast, the courts have used these cases to justify discriminatory treatment of these U.S. residents in everything from voting rights to Social Security benefits. "Even worse than the tangible impacts is this idea that our government labels them as inferior and treats them as unequal," says Weare, who is the president of civil rights organization Equally American and a co-counsel in Fitisemanu. According to the group's tally of census statistics, 98 percent of those living in the territories are people of color. Last term, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Sonia Sotomayor had both signaled they wanted to revisit the Insular Cases, with Gorsuch writing in a concurring opinion in the case United States v. Vaello Madero that the decisions rest on "racial stereotypes" and "deserve no place in our law." Christina Ponsa-Kraus, a constitutional law professor at Columbia Law School who submitted an amicus brief arguing the court should take Fitisemanu's case, says she was surprised that neither Gorsuch nor Sotomayor dissented from the court's order. "[The justices] have overruled or rejected other racist cases in the past, and these cases deserve the same," she adds. Weare says his group plans to continue litigating in other courts and raising awareness. And these issues aren't going away. Later this term, the Supreme Court will decide whether Puerto Rico's federal oversight board has sovereign immunity from records demands by investigative journalists .   THE NUMBERS GAME Since this summer's landmark ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, abortion rights have become a top campaign issue. The ruling is playing an outsize role in the Georgia Senate race featuring Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker. Walker, running as an anti-abortion candidate, has come under fire after it came to light he allegedly paid for a former girlfriend to have an abortion years ago. In an interview with NBC on Monday , he admitted the check was his, but maintains the funds were not intended to pay for an abortion. That brings us to this a POLITICO/Morning Consult survey where we asked potential voters their views on abortion: Do they care if a candidate's stated position on the issue matched their own? Here's what we found: When it comes to caring about a candidate's stance on abortion, Hispanic voters outpaced other racial/ethnic groups. But the poll found that voters of all races were more likely to continue to support a candidate after learning they had paid for someone to receive an abortion.   CLOSER IN CHIEF Former President Barack Obama waves to the crowd after casting his ballot at an early voting site Monday, Oct. 17, 2022, in Chicago. | Charles Rex Arbogast/AP Photo Former President Barack Obama confirmed over the weekend that he will reprise his role as closer in chief, heading to key battleground states ahead of the Nov. 8 midterms. He'll swing through the Peach State on Oct. 28 to the Atlanta area. He'll then jet to the Midwest, where he'll hold separate events in Michigan and Wisconsin on Oct. 29. Georgia of course features a tight gubernatorial contest between Stacey Abrams, the Democratic nominee taking on GOP incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp, as well as the Walker-Warnock showdown —the outcome of which could determine control of the Senate. Democrat Mandela Barnes, Wisconsin's current lieutenant governor, is seeking to flip a Republican-held seat this fall , and in the closing weeks of the campaign incumbent GOP Sen. Ron Johnson is beginning to pull ahead in the polls. If elected, Barnes would be the state's first Black senator. Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mandela Barnes speaks during a televised debate Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022, in Milwaukee. | Morry Gash/AP Photo My POLITICO colleagues Holly Otterbein and Shia Kapos point out the momentum Barnes enjoyed a while back has been eroded by "two months' worth of attack ads labeling him soft on crime." In Michigan, Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is in a tightening contest with GOP nominee Tudor Dixon, who has the endorsement of former President Donald Trump . Michigan was one of the handful of states whose results Trump sought to overturn in the 2020 election. As a result, there's increased focus on the contest for secretary of state featuring incumbent Democrat Jocelyn Benson and Kristina Karamo, an election denier. Obama, who recently sat down for an interview with "Pod Save America," remains the most popular figure in his party, enjoying a 61 percent approval rating, according to YouGov .   ICYMI @ POLITICO RECORD-BREAKING PACE — The race to woo Spanish-speaking voters is poised to break records this cycle , POLITICO's Marissa Martinez and Jessica Piper report. Abrams and Kemp Spar — Kemp and Abrams graced the debate state together Monday night. POLITICO's Brittany Gibson reports the two "reprised differences over combating crime and managing Covid, without either candidate forcing the other off-script." President-elect Donald Trump and Kanye West stand together in the lobby at Trump Tower, Dec. 13, 2016, in New York City. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images Oh Yeezus! — We've been keeping an eye on Ye's antics, from his "White Lives Matter" tees to his antisemitic comments. Now George Floyd's family is threatening legal action against the hip-hop icon. In the midst of all of that, the one-time presidential candidate is now on the verge of purchasing Parler , POLITICO's Kelly Hooper reports. Another colleague, Meridith McGraw, adds that Ye and Trump have dinner plans in the near future.   THE RECAST RECOMMENDS A quick shoutout to the woman thought to be the inspiration for a beloved character in Disney Pixar's "Coco." María Salud Ramírez Caballero, who died this week, was 109 years old! NPR's Hansi Lo Wang breaks down two Supreme Court cases which could narrow the definition of Blackness for the purposes of electoral mapmaking. Sri Lankan novelist Shehan Karunatilaka just won the prestigious Booker Prize for his novel, " The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida ." Farruko takes over "El Tiny": NPR's Tiny Desk Concert . LaTanya Richardson Jackson's Broadway revival of August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson" — starring her husband, Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington and Danielle Brooks — is earning kudos . SNL takes on the Jan. 6 hearings . Dance great Twyla Tharp is still making dances at 81 . And she's restaging two of her masterpieces, "Nine Sinatra Songs" and "In the Upper Room," in a limited run at New York City Center . Diddy teams up with Ashanti, Bryson Tiller and Yung Miami for the "Queens remix" of "Gotta Move On." TikTok of the Day: Aqua Phobic   Follow us on Twitter Brakkton Booker @brakktonbooker Rishika Dugyala @rishikadugyala Teresa Wiltz @teresawiltz Jesús Rodríguez @jesusrodriguezb Jesse Naranjo @jesselnaranjo   Follow us

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