The race to become Los Angeles County’s first-ever chief executive has officially begun, and it’s shaping up to be one of the most consequential local contests in recent California history.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath kicked off the campaign Monday, announcing her bid for the newly created county executive post in the 2028 election. She likely won’t be alone for long. Political observers expect a crowded field, with state lawmakers, members of Congress and Los Angeles City Council members all weighing a run at an office that could rival the governorship in terms of influence and reach.
The stakes are high for good reason. Whoever wins will effectively serve as the chief executive of a county with 10 million residents — more people than live in most states — and will instantly become a top contender for governor or U.S. senator down the road.
Horvath represents the county’s 3rd supervisorial district, which stretches across some of its wealthiest communities, including Santa Monica, Malibu and Beverly Hills. She was among four supervisors who voted to establish the new executive position and to expand the Board of Supervisors from five seats to nine, a sweeping governance overhaul that county voters approved in 2024.
That restructuring represents the most significant change to local government in California since the 1800s, and many say it’s long overdue. Los Angeles County’s size, economic diversity and sprawling $54 billion budget have long strained a governing model built around a five-person board and an appointed administrator. Critics argue that structure has bred confusion and, at times, paralysis — leaving voters uncertain about who to hold accountable when things go wrong. The arrangement might suit smaller, more homogenous counties, but Los Angeles has outgrown it.
San Francisco offers the closest real-world comparison, since it operates as both a city and county with an elected mayor and an 11-member Board of Supervisors. That system hasn’t always run smoothly either — city leaders there frequently clash, and a tangle of semi-independent commissions complicates decision-making. Still, Mayor Daniel Lurie, now in his first term, has built a working coalition on the board and has begun trimming back some of that bureaucratic complexity. He notched a win last week when voters approved a round of city charter reforms.
In Los Angeles County’s case, while the executive position will be filled in 2028, the expanded Board of Supervisors won’t take shape until 2032, once new district lines are drawn using data from the 2030 census.
“Los Angeles has never been a place that dreams small,” Horvath said in a statement announcing her campaign. “But for too long, our county government has moved too slowly, failed to meet the moment, and allowed bureaucracy to stand in the way of progress. I fight every day to reform our government because I believe the people of Los Angeles deserve better — a government that works for them, delivers real results, and is accountable to the people it serves.”
Speculation about who might seek the new post has been swirling quietly since voters approved the governance changes. Horvath’s entry into the race was hardly a shock, and now that she’s made the first move, others are expected to follow quickly — two years may sound like a long runway, but in political terms, it’s barely any time at all.
The timing adds another layer of intrigue. Just last week, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass lost her reelection bid to City Council member Nithya Raman, a democratic socialist, in a result that shook the city’s political establishment. With that outcome fresh in voters’ minds, the 2028 race for county executive could become a defining ideological showdown — one whose winner would emerge as a serious contender for statewide office and a rising figure in national politics.
Original source: CalMatters
