Progressive groups fanned out across the western San Fernando Valley to knock on doors and influence voters in Los Angeles’ final competitive city council race in this part of LA

Their nominee, a climate change activist, ultimately lost. Still, the 2019 race showed that groups like Ground Game Los Angeles and Sunrise Movement L

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could be a powerful force in the Valley election.

But in this year’s city council race, an election to fill the Valley seat left vacant by the resignation of council president Nury Martinez, some major progressive groups have been sidelined.

Ground Game did not approve the April 4 primaries. Neither has Sunrise Movement, a youth-focused climate justice organization. The Los Angeles chapter of Democratic Socialists of America also does not support a candidate.

Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles does not support the election, but some members are pushing for support for a write-in candidate.

The lack of collective support for any of the seven candidates is not due to a lack of progressive views. All but one candidate is a Democrat. There is also a police abolitionist running.

Many of the candidates also talk about the environmental injustice in this predominantly Latino municipal district, where residents want more parks and trees and less

private jet flights from

Van Nuys Airport.

Still, some of the city’s most well-known progressive groups are staying away for now.

Some far-left activists admit they don’t have a deep network in District 6, which stretches from Lake Balboa to Sun Valley. Others say they don’t have the resources to support a candidate in the special election, which was prompted by leaked audio that showed Martinez making racial slurs.

“The lack of an endorsement does not necessarily mean a lack of interest in the race,” said Bill Przylucki, executive director of Ground Game L.

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which works to elect progressive candidates.

Neither Ground Game nor Democratic Socialists of America support in every race. A lack of support from Ground Game could mean that no candidate stood out that far from the others and met all the criteria to earn the group’s support, Przylucki said.

However, the group will engage voters on homelessness and housing issues ahead of the primary, he said.

Ground Game has won a string of victories in recent city hall elections. The group supported the campaigns of Nithya Raman, Hugo Soto-Martinez, Eunisses Hernandez and Kenneth Mejia, all of whom won their races against established or tall

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times city hall politicians. All those politicians want big changes in the way the city deals with police and homelessness.

Loraine Lundquist, who was running for the San Fernando Valley City Council seat eventually won by John Lee, had support in her race from Cal PAC, the Food and Water Action Fund. That group helped recruit volunteers from Sunrise Movement, the Democratic Socialists of America, and Ground Game. A focus in the race was local anger over the 2015 methane leak in Aliso Canyon.

But she doesn’t see the same progressive mobilization in the District 6 race.

The progressive movement is broken to some extent,” Lundquist said. They don’t have a historical base of people who work in the Valley and know the candidates.’

Ground Game’s Przylucki agreed that the progressive movement isn’t as cohesive as it could be, but said it’s better than 2019.

The Peoples City Council is not advocating for any candidate, said co-founder Ricci Sergienko. The far-left collective, which focuses on anti-racism and abolishing the police, has used its popular Twitter feed to attack and support candidates in previous elections.

When it comes to support in the District 6 race, the dozens of People’s City Council members do not live in the district and the candidates are not well known to the group, Sergienko said.

Progressive groups that have weighed in include LA Forward Action, a nun

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profits focused on housing, environmental justice and government reform. The group supported candidate Marco Santana but will not spend any money for now, executive director David Levitus said

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Forward action. Lundquist is also a board member.

Another candidate, Isaac Kim, is endorsed by Sunrise Movement at Occidental,

which is affiliated with students

Eastern College. Kim also has some campaign staff helping him who have also worked on Mejia’s City Controller’s campaign, he said.

Antoinette Scully, the police abolitionist in the race, is backed by Feel the Bern San Fernando and East Valley Indivisibles. Scully, who is black, said anti-blackness and patriarchy are influences when it comes to election endorsements.

It’s actually very frustrating, Scully said, that large progressive groups stay out of the race. “I’ve got the receipts, I’ve done the work.

Melina Abdullah, co-founder of Black Lives Matter in Los Angeles

said

that many members individually support Pastor James Thomas, a self-proclaimed activist, as a subscriber.

Sunrise movement

Los Angeles

meanwhile wants a climate champion to lead the district, said group hub coordinator Nico Gardner-Serna,

who pointed

Van Nuys Airport and a Superfund site in the Northeast Valley.

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methane gas leak for years

at a power plant in Sun Valley also enraged residents.

“We urge everyone who cares about the climate to get involved in this election,” said Gardner-Serna.

Still, the Los Angeles Sunrise Movement does not support the primary because it is focused on developing broader advocacy campaigns, Gardner-Serna said, adding that she hopes to win an endorsement in the general election.