One of the most contentious and fiery Los Angeles City council races is wrapping up.

Candidate and Filipino American lawyer Ysabel Jurado has been making her final rounds, courting voters, mobilizing volunteers and holding caravans in the final days of her campaign.

“We’re feeling really positive as long as we do everything that we set out to do which we did, knocking on doors, talking to voters. We’ve crossed over a thousand volunteers sign ups. The momentum is there. We just need to make sure people actually submit their ballots either now because every day is Election Day or on Election Day itself,” she said in an interview.

If elected to council district 14, Jurado, a tenant rights attorney, would be the first Filipino American to join the city council of America’s second largest city.

The district itself stretches from Eagle Rock thru East Los Angeles and into downtown LA.

“There is a bamboo ceiling for Filipinos to be seen as an executive and as we continue to break that bamboo ceiling and these positions, it widens the pathways for other Filipinos and API candidates to see themselves reflected …It’s about our working class values that commit us to the solidarity with other folks regardless of other things,” she said.

Born and raised in Highland Park, Jurado completed her bachelor’s degree at UCLA and then continued into the UCLA School of Law where she graduated with a Juris Doctorate with specializations in Critical Race Studies and the David J. Epstein Program in Public Interest Law and Policy.

Recently, Jurado faced criticism after a recording at a college forum showed her reciting the lyrics to the song ”F the Police" when asked about police spending.

It was later revealed that the student who asked the question on police spending, recorded the answer and released the audio was an off duty worker for Jurado’s opponent, current councilman Kevin DeLeon.

De Leon himself had been embroiled in a leaked tape scandal in 2022 when he was recorded making racially charged remarks with other lawmakers.

Despite a number of the involved parties stepping down from office, De Leon has survived recall attempts and managed to keep his seat into this reelection bid.

Since the controversial police comments, Jurado has clarified that she remains committed to public safety and that she was using the lyrics to get her point across on systemic injustice and police accountability. 

She said she has continued receiving support from other lawmakers who have also opposed police spending.