Former state Sen. Kevin de Leon announced Monday that he plans to seek the Los Angeles City Council seat being vacated by Jose Huizar.
De Leon, who will run for the seat in the 2020 election, ran an unsuccessful campaign in November to unseat Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. De Leon is a former president of the state Senate.
Several other people have also filed to run for Huizar's seat, but de Leon is the first high-profile politician to announce plans to seek the Council District 14 post, which represents an area stretching from Eagle Rock to downtown.
De Leon has already picked up the endorsement of City Council members Curren Price, Paul Koretz and Mitch O'Farrell.
"In early November, I made a commitment to my fellow Democrats, Angelenos, and Californians that I would continue on a path of public service, to focus on building coalitions in our communities to achieve our common goals. Today, I am fulfilling that promise by announcing my candidacy for the Los Angeles City Council," de Leon said.
Huizar's wife, Richelle Huizar, announced last year that she was going to seek her husband's seat, but withdrew her candidacy shortly after the FBI raided her husband's offices and their home in early November as part of an FBI corruption probe. No one has been arrested as a result of the investigation.
De Leon, 52, served in the state Legislature representing areas of the Eastside of Los Angeles from 2006 until last year, first as a member of the Assembly and then in the Senate. Earlier this year he joined the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs as a policymaker-in-residence and senior analyst.
