2026 District 9 Election Will End 63 Years of Black Representation in South Central, Los Angeles
SOUTH CENTRAL, LOS ANGELES — Voters in South Central will choose between Jose Ugarte and Estuardo Mazariegos on Nov. 3, deciding who will succeed Councilmember Curren Price and become Los Angeles City Council District 9’s first non-Black representative since 1963.
The two Latino candidates outlined different approaches to public safety and neighborhood services at an Oct. 3 forum at A Place Called Home. Ugarte is a former aide to Price; Mazariegos is a community organizer. Price is leaving office because of term limits.
One council seat, 63 years of Black representation
The district’s place in Black political history began with Gilbert Lindsay’s appointment in 1963. A former City Hall janitor, Lindsay became Los Angeles’ first Black council member. Every council member who has held the District 9 seat since then has been Black. CD9’S political history also includes a vacancy after Lindsay’s death in December 1990 and before Rita Walters took office in July 1991.
District 9 · 1963–2026
Four leaders. A 63-year legacy.
Explore the Black council members who represented District 9. Click a portrait or name to open their story. On smaller screens, swipe along the timeline.
District 9 · 1963–1990
Gilbert W. Lindsay
Lindsay was appointed Jan. 28, 1963, becoming the city’s first Black council member. A former City Hall janitor, he went on to represent the Ninth District for nearly 28 years. He died in office Dec. 28, 1990.
Historical background · City clerk’s term record
Portrait: Los Angeles Times Photographic Collection, UCLA Library. Photo source · CC BY 4.0. Portrait cropped and displayed in grayscale until selected.
District 9 · 1991–2001
Rita D. Walters
Walters entered office July 1, 1991, following a special election. An educator and former Los Angeles Unified School District board member, she chaired the council’s Arts, Health and Humanities Committee. After her council service, she joined the Board of Library Commissioners in 2002.
Walters’ biography in city records · Special-election term record
Portrait: Los Angeles City Council / USC Digital Library, 1992. Photo source · CC BY 4.0. Portrait cropped and displayed in grayscale until selected.
District 9 · 2001–2013
Jan C. Perry
Perry served as Walters’ chief of staff before winning the District 9 seat in 2001. Her council work included low-income housing, expansion of the Downtown Women’s Center and a water bond that helped fund the South Los Angeles Wetlands Park. Her tenure also encompassed major downtown development and a redistricting that changed the district’s boundaries.
Los Angeles Public Library’s historical biography
Portrait: Eric Richardson, 2006. Photo source · CC BY 2.0. Portrait cropped and displayed in grayscale until selected.
District 9 · 2013–present
Curren D. Price Jr.
Price took office in July 2013 after serving on the Inglewood City Council and in the California Assembly and Senate. His District 9 office identifies wage policy, sidewalk vending and Central Avenue’s cultural heritage among his legislative and community priorities. His current term is scheduled to end Dec. 13, 2026.
Official biography · City clerk’s term record
Portrait: Los Angeles City Council District 9, 2021. Photo source · Public domain. Portrait cropped and displayed in grayscale until selected.
Years show District 9 service. The seat was vacant between Lindsay’s death in December 1990 and Walters’ arrival in July 1991. Price remains the incumbent as of Oct. 11, 2026; his term is scheduled to end Dec. 13.
Central Avenue’s history extends beyond City Hall
The Dunbar Hotel offers a different way to understand the community whose representation is changing. Built in 1928 as the Hotel Somerville, it hosted the first national NAACP convention held in the western United States and became a center of Central Avenue’s Black cultural and jazz life in the 1930s and 1940s.
The council transition follows decades of demographic change. In a January column, Capital & Main reported that District 9 was about 78% Latino and 13% Black. Those figures describe the population, not the electorate, and should not be treated as a prediction of how residents will vote.
Where Ugarte and Mazariegos differ
At the recent CD9 forum, Ugarte called for more police officers and greater emphasis on community policing. Mazariegos proposed social workers for mental health and family crises. On neighborhood maintenance, Mazariegos advocated hiring young residents for cleanups; Ugarte supported fully funding city services and supplementing them with business improvement districts.
Both candidates have emphasized the importance of Black and Latino solidarity during their campaigns. Their proposals offer competing approaches to allocating public resources, however, and are campaign positions, not adopted city policy.
A change in representation, with a wider legacy
The California African American Museum in Exposition Park is another institution through which residents encounter Black Los Angeles history. Its presence offers context for the election: a council seat is one part of a community’s civic life, alongside cultural institutions, businesses and neighborhood organizations.
The Nov. 3 runoff will determine more than who occupies District 9’s seat at City Hall. It will begin a new chapter in a district shaped by 63 years of Black elected leadership. For Ugarte or Mazariegos, the work will be to turn campaign promises into neighborhood services, safer streets and a responsive City Hall — while representing the Black community whose history remains central to South Los Angeles and the Latino community that now makes up most of the district.
Related coverage: VOBLA’s reporting on Black representation in the District 9 election.
