The March city election season officially gets underway Monday with the start of the candidate-filing period for the mayoral, city attorney, controller and council seats.
Aspiring candidates will have until Friday to submit their declarations of intent to run, and about a month — from Nov. 12 to Dec. 7 — to submit nominating petitions. The filing periods also apply to candidates for the even- numbered seats on the Los Angeles Unified School District and Los Angeles Community College District boards.
Mayor Eric Garcetti, who has already raised more than $2.2 million, is expected to declare his intention to run for re-election. He could be faced with at least two major challengers, including political strategist Mitchell Schwartz and Green Dot charter school founder Steve Barr.
Fundraising ahead of this month’s filings indicate that several of the incumbent council members in the council races could have at least one challenger.
The seventh district seat became vacant after Councilman Felipe Fuentes stepped down to take a lobbyist job in Sacramento, which leaves that seat open to at least eight contenders who have already started fundraising.
No one has filed yet with the Ethics Commission to raise funds to challenge City Attorney Mike Feuer and Controller Ron Galperin.
The declaration and petition filings should be submitted to the Office of the City Clerk’s Election Division at the Piper Technical Center, 555 Ramirez St., Space 300, Los Angeles, CA 90012.
