Poli 103A California Politics Ethnic Politics in Urban LA

1. Poli 103A California PoliticsEthnic Politics in Urban LA 50th Congressional District Bill Hauf Francine Busby

2. Ethnic Politics in Urban LA • Group Profiles: Communities and the New Machines • Downtown Developers • Westside Jews • African Americans • Latinos • API Americans

3. Political Boundaries of the City of Los Angeles

4. Group Profiles: Downtown Developers and the WASPs • Since 1880s, a series of boosters have promoted and profited from the growth of Los Angeles. • Harry Chandler expanded the LA Times • Henry Huntington built the Red Cars • The modern growth machine consists of real estate developers who feed contributions to City Hall in exchange for building permits.

5. Group Profiles: Downtown Developers and the WASPs • Non-Jewish, Non-Hispanic whites were 34% of the LA city electorate in 2001 mayor’s race. • Politically conservative, shrinking fast. Map from http://www.ci.la.ca.us/PLN/DRU/HomeC2K.htm

6. Group Profiles: Downtown Developers and the WASPs

7. Group Profiles: Westside Jews • Unlike the Jewish population in San Francisco, Los Angeles Jews were traditionally concentrated in Westside because of WASP exclusion. • Led by politicians such as the Berman-Waxman machine, which supported liberal candidates with Westside contributions and high tech direct mail targeting.

8. Group Profiles: Westside Jews • 18% of the LA City electorate in 2001, but don’t show up in the Census. • Raphael Sonenshein studies Jewish political behavior by comparing Jewish, WASP, Berkeley, and African-American cities and districts: • Jewish voters are solidly Democratic, but moderate on crime and race.

9. Group Profiles: Westside Jews

10. Group Profiles: African-Americans • From 1973-1993, former LAPD officer and UCLA sports hero Tom Bradley held together a rainbow coalition of blacks and white liberals. • As mayor, he pushed affirmative action in city hiring, federal anti-poverty assistance, and – more controversially – growth.

11. Group Profiles: African-Americans • 17% of electorate in the 2001 city elections, but shrinking share. • Many of the black voters in LA city are middle class, and many are employed by the city or county.

12. Group Profiles: African-Americans

13. Group Profiles:Latinos • No longer a minority. Since 1990, Latinos have been the plurality of Los Angeles city residents. • “The Eastside PRI” and other local political machines elect officials. • Community groups like NALEO, SVREP, and MALDEF help to register voters and draw winnable districts.

14. Group Profiles:Latinos • Latinos made up 22% of the city electorate in 2001. • Rapidly growing population. • Large gap between residents and voters, but gap is shrinking.

15. Group Profiles:Latinos

16. Group Profiles: Asian/Pacific Islander Americans • Asians in the city are heterogeneous and their “towns” have been divided by political boundaries. • Still, Councilman Mike Woo (Chinese American) nearly won the mayoralty in 1993 with 86% of black vote, 69% of API vote, and 57% of Latino vote.

17. Group Profiles: Asian/Pacific Islander Americans • 6% of the city electorate in the 2001 election • Rapidly growing percentage of the population • Large gap between residents and voters

18. Group Profiles: Asian/Pacific Islander Americans

19. Discussion Section • I want to focus on Raph Sonenshein’s analysis of Jewish voting • Why don’t exit polls tell us everything we need to know? • How did Sonenshein conduct his analysis? • What are the pitfalls in inferring the behavior of Jewish voters by examining an entire district or city?