BLM helped elect police reform candidates in LA County over the objections of police unions

Los Angeles County is home to the nation’s biggest local jail system. It also has the largest local prosecutorial office and some of the deadliest law enforcement agencies: The Los Angeles Police Department and the county sheriff’s department each kill more people per year than police departments in other major cities with comparable rates of violent crime. And, despite its progressive reputation, it’s a sprawling county of 10 million people who have, for years, elected tough-on-crime politicians.

But 2020 was different. In a key test of police reform after the May 25 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the rallies that spread across the country this summer, anti-carceral candidates and policies won across the board — victories that would have been unthinkable a decade ago.

From the City Council to the district attorney’s office, voters chose the candidates who ran on reducing incarceration and holding violent law enforcement officials accountable while also approving a measure requiring part of the county’s revenue to be set aside for alternatives to incarceration. At a time when some establishment Democrats are blaming their party’s electoral setbacks in the House on calls to “Defund the police,” activists in Los Angeles helped oust incumbents and went up against well-funded police unions and won.

The outcome, activists say, is the result of grassroots organizing by Black Lives Matter and allied groups who have worked for years to mobilize the community around racial justice demands. 

“This is one of those cases where grassroots pressure, storytelling, organizing all worked together perfectly to beat back police union money,” Chris Lazare, the organizing director of Real Justice PAC, said in an interview. “I don’t think this happens without BLM.”