State senator enters race for seat on L.A. County Board of Supervisors

State Sen. Holly J. Mitchell announced Thursday that she is entering the race for the 2nd District seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, further raising the prospect that the county could soon be governed by an all-female board.

Mitchell joins a field that already includes several candidates, including Herb Wesson, president of the Los Angeles City Council, and Jan Perry, a former council member who once ran for mayor.

They are vying to replace term-limited Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, who is leaving next year after more than a decade on the board. The onetime council member has signaled that he will seek a return to City Hall, organizing an early fundraiser for the seat Wesson would vacate.

Mitchell (D-Los Angeles) was elected to the state Assembly in 2010 and moved to the Senate in 2013. In announcing her campaign, the termed-out lawmaker touted her efforts to reform the state’s criminal justice system and increase access to healthcare, as well as her work on budgets to boost funding to help low-income families.

“I have never backed down from doing what is right and necessary,” Mitchell said in an email to supporters Thursday morning. “I believe in the best Los Angeles County has to offer and I am willing to fight for it. This is why I am running for county supervisor.”

The 2nd District stretches from Culver City to Carson and encompasses about half of the county’s black population. Political veterans Mitchell, Wesson and Perry, along with lesser-known candidates Sharis Rhodes and Earl Ofari Hutchinson, are all black.

The election is set for March 2020, with a potential runoff in November 2020.