Jimmy Biblarz

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Jimmy Biblarz

Nonpartisan

Elections and appointments

Last election

June 7, 2022

Education

Bachelor's

Harvard University, 2014

Law

Harvard Law School, 2021

Ph.D

Harvard University, 2022

Personal

Profession

Law professor

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Campaign Instagram

Campaign YouTube

Personal LinkedIn

Jimmy Biblarz ran for election to the Los Angeles City Council to represent District 5 in California. He lost in the primary on June 7, 2022.

Biblarz completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Jimmy Biblarz earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard University in 2014, a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 2021, and a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 2022. His career experience includes working as a professor at the UCLA School of Law and as a part of the Biden Voter Protection team and Protect Democracy. Biblarz has been affiliated with the following organizations:

• Stonewall Democratic Club
• LA County Young Democrats
• Avance Democratic Club
• Miracle Mile Democratic Club
• LA Forward Action
• Heart of LA Democratic Club
• West Hollywood/Beverly Hills Democratic Club
• West LA Democratic Club

Elections

2022

See also: City elections in Los Angeles, California (2022)

General election

General election for Los Angeles City Council District 5

Katy Young Yaroslavsky defeated Sam Yebri in the general election for Los Angeles City Council District 5 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Katy Young Yaroslavsky (Nonpartisan)	59.7	50,740
		Sam Yebri (Nonpartisan)	40.3	34,248

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 84,988
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Los Angeles City Council District 5

Katy Young Yaroslavsky and Sam Yebri defeated Jimmy Biblarz and Scott Epstein in the primary for Los Angeles City Council District 5 on June 7, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Katy Young Yaroslavsky (Nonpartisan)	49.0	28,039
✔		Sam Yebri (Nonpartisan)	29.7	16,998
		Jimmy Biblarz (Nonpartisan)	10.9	6,268
	Submit photo	Scott Epstein (Nonpartisan)	10.4	5,954

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 57,259
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign themes

2022

Video for Ballotpedia

Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released November 18, 2021

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Jimmy Biblarz completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Biblarz's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I grew up in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood. My political origin story began in adolescence: when I was 12, my family was evicted from our small duplex apartment, and the scars of it are very much still with our family. We were chased around the city by housing affordability and both of my parents struggled deeply with substance use in the aftermath. Luckily, they are both in long-term recovery now. The experience of childhood eviction, in addition to coming of age as a young queer person in the mid-2000s, under the dark cloud of Proposition 8, showed me just how much politics matters.

I got my start in political activism during the Great Recession, when I helped organize non-unionized classified staff in LAUSD. I graduated as the valedictorian from Hamilton High School, and was at Harvard for college, graduate school, and law school. I worked for President Obama’s 2012 Convention and at CNN as a research associate. I then began my JD/PhD, during which I was part of an inaugural cohort of graduate students and professors in social science studying the dramatic rise in American income & wealth inequality. I have also worked at the L.A. Public Defender’s Office, fought the Trump administration’s cruel immigration policies and racist voter disenfranchisement efforts at Protect Democracy, and was on President Biden’s voter protection team.

I now teach at UCLA Law School. I am a proud member of the UC-AFT labor union. I live in Beverly Grove with my partner Harry. We rent.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Invest in permanent, structrual, and research-driven solutions to the homelessness crisis
• Work to create a housing production system that produces housing regular people can afford
• Promote lasting, enduring, and strategic policy interventions to keep our communities safe

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I am running to make Los Angeles a place where everyone can afford to thrive. Hundreds of thousands of renters live on the brink of eviction, homeowners are struggling with mortgage payments, and more people become unhoused every day. This is unsustainable for a functioning, inclusive economy. If we don’t act decisively, and quickly, to ensure that wages keep pace with increases in housing costs and that housing is located near job centers, L.A. will become a place that only the 1% can afford to live in, rather than the engine of social mobility it has long been promised to be.

I am laser-focused on how we can make L.A. a more affordable city. The City Council is the best positioned government body to accomplish this goal. City Council’s powers over land use and zoning, wages, transportation, and homeless services have the capacity to dramatically improve economic conditions for all Angelenos. We need bold, immediate action from new political voices.

What qualities does this office possess that makes it a unique and important part of the state government and legal system?

City Council's control over land use, wages, and the city budget have the potential to transform the economic conditions for all Angelenos.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

I am a progressive Democrat. I commend the work of activists and admire it deeply. Activists change conversations, push policy, and bring new ideas into the mainstream. I am an active participant at protests and have been since childhood. I also believe in the power of politics to engender real social change. I would not be doing this if I didn’t. For the scale of change we need, it will take careful and thoughtful partnerships between activists, policymakers, and researchers. Politics is by no means the end all be all, but it's where my talents, skillset, and personality are best suited to make a difference

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

After college, I worked for David Gergen at CNN. It was my dream job – briefing pundits in "The Situation Room" about the day's political news. I got to travel around the country with David, preparing him for dozens of events and activities. Almost daily we would have CNN "hits": a producer would call me, give me a rough sense of what they wanted David to talk about and when, and then I'd spend the next few hours (or minutes, depending on the issue) putting together a short written and verbal brief for David. We'd often be rushing right up to air time; it was incredibly nerve-wracking and exciting.

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

Growing up in Los Angeles, under the cloud of Proposition 8, I saw just how deep-seated anti- LGBTQIA+ sentiment was, and how it continues to be an issue in CD5 and throughout our city. Sexual and racial harrassment remain ever present in occupational settings and in city policy; despite ordinances, legal discrimination remains in prounounced in the housing, credit, and labor markets.

Are there any little-known powers or responsibilities held by this office that you believe more people should be aware of?

For too long, City Hall has not worked for ordinary people. It seems that we open the LA Times every day to hear of a new City Council Office under federal or state investigation. Corruption erodes public trust in government and makes getting any real change accomplished that much harder. Sunlight is the best tool against corruption. We pledge to be the most transparent, and accessible, council office.

Update planning codes so that small-scale developers do not have to jump through the hoops that only the most deep-pocketed developers are able to navigate today. We need to make our planning process fairer and easier to navigate so that more diverse builders are able to get off the ground, and not be left languishing in the planning pipeline. With a more streamlined and routine process, we reduce the likelihood of quid-pro-quo style corruption between developers and elected officials, and we increase the likelihood of being able to build the housing system that ordinary folks can actually afford.

What kind of skills or expertise do you believe would be the most helpful for the holders of this office to possess?

I am an academic urban sociologist by training. Research, science, and math are in my blood. While academic research does not spit out policy solutions, I believe policy should be guided by research in conjunction with robust community engagement.

I have experienced housing insecurity myself, a top issue for voters. When I was 12, my family was evicted from our small duplex apartment in West LA’s Pico-Robertson neighborhood, and the scars of it are very much still with our family. We were chased around the city by housing affordability and both of my parents struggled deeply with substance use in the aftermath. Luckily they are both in long-term recovery now. Additionally, I have been studying inequality professionally for a decade as an academic, and have a track record of fighting for economic and racial justice as a lawyer. Our message is resonating because it comes out of lived experience. My roots in the community are deep, having gone to K-12 LAUSD schools here. My academic training and community organizing background have provided me the tools necessary to develop research-driven policy rooted in community needs, and to mount a winning campaign.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

See also

2022 Elections

What's on the ballot? U.S. Congress U.S. Congress special elections State executives State legislatures State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards Election analysis hub

Government

Who represents me? U.S. Congress State executives State legislators State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards

Newsletters

The Heart of the Primaries The Daily Brew The Weekly Brew The Ballot Bulletin Checks and Balances Economy and Society Hall Pass Number of the Day Robe & Gavel Union Station

External links

Search Google News for this topic

Candidate

Los Angeles City Council District 5

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

YouTube

Personal

LinkedIn