Huizar Defeats Martinez After Contentious Campaign

Conceding that it was one of the toughest and most interesting political races he had ever experienced as a contestant or an observer, declared a decisive victory last night in City Council District 14 over his sole challenger Rudy Martinez.

Cheers of "Si Se Puede!" or "Yes We Can" filled the auditorium of Bishop Mora Salesian High School in Boyle Heights at around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday as polls showed incumbent Huizar winning 65 percent of the vote, with 30 percent of precincts reporting. (Final election numbers from the Los Angles City Clerk's office showed Huizar earning 9,150 votes to Martnez 5,018, a total of 65 percent of the vote.)

Huizar told his gathered supporters that the night's celebration was not about him, but about something much bigger. "This is not about José Huizar, this is about people believing that we need more resources for our young people," he said. "This is about believing in open space in our densely developed communities. This is about people saying 'we want safe streets'—this is about a movement, and people saying, 'no matter where you live, you deserve the same public amenities.'"

Yet Tuesday's celebration did in fact seem largely a validation of Huizar. The Salesian High School alum was celebrated as a favorite son of Boyle Heights. As Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa pointed out, Huizar is the first CD14 councilmember since Ed Roybal to make his home in the historic Hispanic neighborhood.

"This is a man who never forgot where he came from," Villaraigosa said.

The celebration was also a chance for Huizar to exhale after a contentious campaign, filled with personal and professional attacks launched by both sides. Though Huizar appeared to have secured a wide magian of victory over challenger Rudy Martinez, the campaign was no cakewalk.

"This was one of the most interesting campaigns I've ever witnessed, either as a participant or spectator," Huizar told his supporters.

Later, while speaking to a gathered group of reporters, Huizar admitted that he had engaged in a game of "back and forth" with his opponent.

"[Martinez] held out a muddy hand, and we grabbed it and got pulled into the mud," Huizar said.

With four more years of representing CD14 ahead of him, Huizar said he was looking forward to addressing many of the community concerns he heard while on the campaign trail.

"People are concerned about some very basic things. Yes they're worried about the city budget, yes they're worried about creating jobs. But a lot of them, the majority of them, are concerned about what's happening in their immediate neighborhood—that pothole, that sidewalk that tree that needs to get trimmed," Huizar said.

"All politics are local. That's so true. In a large city like ours, it still comes down to that pothole that needs to get fixed."

Huizar said he would continue to address those neighborhood concerns in the areas of Highland Park, Mount Washington and Eagle Rock, while working to revitalize commercial corridors such as York Boulevard.

Much of Martinez's campaign, however, had been built on supposed community complaints that Huizar had neglected the Northeast by failing to provide adequate city services.

He pointed to his "new York" vision plan as evidence of his commitment to Northeast communities.

"My opponent said he's revitalized York Boulevard?" Huizar said. "All he did was replace an old bar with a new bar," referring to the Martinez-owner Marty's bar on York Boulevard in Highland Park.

Martinez conceded defeat at around 10:30 p.m., shortly after Huizar declared victory, at the very bar Huizar referred to—Marty's. He told a gathering of about 50 people standing in a tent in the backyard that his long contest was over—but that he wasn’t quite done.

“The numbers aren't quite looking what we wanted them to be, but my God, what an experience it has been,” he said.  “I love you all and I promise you I'll be back to change this city. I never give up."

Martinez made his concession speech from a small stage, standing with his daughter Mia, 6, on his left and son Marty, 9, on his right. It was a fairly emotional sight, especially when Martinez hugged his children, leaving more than one of his supporters teary.

But like much of what Martinez has said on the campaign trail in the past few months, his speech was predictably devoid of political content. Which, in the end, might be just as well. As George Gonzalez, one of Martinez’s key campaign aides put it to Eagle Rock Patch: “Now he can go back to making money.”