Board of Supervisors will soon lean more solidly left

There have been at least two Republican seats on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors pretty much (if not literally) forever, but that figures to change with this year's elections. Democrat Janice Hahn, whose family name is on the building where the supervisors meet, is the the favorite to succeed Republican Don Knabe in the seat that covers the south end of the county. Even if a Republican wins the seat where Michael Antonovich is being termed out, as seems likely, the four liberal Democrats will form the first liberal super majority on the board in quite some time, if ever.

The LAT's Abby Sewell explores the meaning of that in a weekend piece. Sample:

The 2014 elections marked the beginning of the board's tilt to the left, with a pair of labor-backed, progressive Democrats — Sheila Kuehl and Hilda Solis — replacing a pair of more centrist Democrats, Zev Yaroslavsky and Gloria Molina.

Over the last year, the new supervisors, who joined Mark Ridley-Thomas in a new progressive majority, have passed a plan to increase the county's minimum wage to $15 an hour, downsized plans to build a new Men's Central Jail, and launched a series of plans to set aside more money for affordable housing and services for the homeless.

"This is a new game already with the 3-2 liberal majority on the board as it is, but a 4-1 split — it's unheard of," Regalado said. "Four out of five is going to be a lock on any major issue."

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Raphael Sonenshein, executive director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at Cal State L.A., said a liberal supermajority on the board could potentially introduce an element of instability.

"When you get more than you need to have a majority, it introduces more flexibility, but it also increases the possibility that they'll find things to disagree about," he said.

Both the Knabe and Antonovich districts have become markedly less Republican since those supervisors were elected.