John McKinneyJohn McKinney

The job of Los Angeles City Attorney is a complicated balancing act that requires good judgment, and, necessarily, the kind of experience that teaches good judgment.

It is not the best place to try out trendy activist ideas that will deliver negative consequences for jobs and public safety in Los Angeles.

We endorsed incumbent City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto for reelection, but the voters disagreed, and two other candidates will face each other in the November run-off.

Marissa Roy (https://www.marissaroy.com/), a member (https://shakeup-la.com/our-candidates) of the Los Angeles chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, finished first in the primary with 43.1% of the vote. She told us her priorities would be suing businesses over what she says is $2.5 billion in wage theft, and suing landlords, presumably to stop them from evicting tenants who don’t pay the rent or violate their leases in other ways.

But Roy’s website gives away the game. She calls her issues page “The People’s Platform.” In the first section, “Protecting Workers’ Rights,” she declares, “Companies are using increased automation to evade regulations and eliminate jobs.” That’s not illegal, and it’s a troubling sign that a city attorney candidate can’t get past paragraph one in her platform before she’s hinting at using the considerable powers of the office to put a thumb on the scale for what should be a collective bargaining issue, not a law enforcement matter.

When it comes to public safety, Roy states confidently that “too often, our approach to public safety doesn’t actually keep us safe,” then defaults to the dated talking point that the “root causes of crime” must be addressed instead of giving in to a “cycle of criminalization.” That’s code for more social program spending and fewer arrests, and since there has never been enough money for enough social programs to solve the “root causes of crime,” the residents of the city are left with the crimes. Businesses with jobs might offer a better life to young people, but don’t expect businesses to locate or grow in Los Angeles if they’re only going to be demonized and sued in the name of “The People’s Platform.”

Fortunately, the voters of Los Angeles have an excellent option for the job of city attorney in Deputy District Attorney John McKinney (https://mckinney4la.com/).

McKinney, a lifelong Democrat, has the endorsements of former Los Angeles County District Attorneys Jackie Lacey, a Democrat, and Steve Cooley, a Republican. He worked for both of them, having joined the District Attorney’s office in 1997 after graduating from UCLA School of Law. McKinney also has the endorsement of District Attorney Nathan Hochman, the Los Angeles Police Protective League, and the relatively sensible, non-socialist members of the L.A. City Council – Traci Park, Monica Rodriguez, John Lee and Tim McOsker.
McKinney’s campaign is focused on public safety. In his career as a prosecutor, he has been assigned to the Special Victims Unit, Hardcore Gang Prosecutions and Major Crimes. When he entered the race near the end of March, he said his key priorities would be public safety, neighborhood protection, support for law enforcement and restoring confidence in the criminal justice system.

The city attorney does not prosecute felonies, but is responsible for prosecuting misdemeanors. This includes the many quality-of-life crimes that concern Los Angeles residents. McKinney told our editorial board that he would “enforce 41.18,” the city’s ordinance outlawing homeless encampments in sensitive locations. At the same time, he said he would pursue diversion, not incarceration, in enforcing the law.

John McKinney has the judgment and experience Los Angeles needs in its city attorney, and he has our endorsement.

Source (https://www.dailynews.com/2026/08/31/endorsement-john-mckinney-for-los-angeles-city-attorney/)

Joint endorsement with Feldstein Soto; career prosecutor with 30 years experience.