CD 1's Ed Reyes Endorses CD 13's Eric Garcetti

Silver Lake resident and mayoral aspirant Eric Garcetti picked up his first endorsement Friday from a fellow city council member, Ed Reyes.

Reyes and Garcetti share district boundaries, much of it along a dividing line that cuts through the center of Echo Park.

Garcetti said he was honored to have earned Reyes' support.

"Ed Reyes is a champion for Northeast L.A. and the L.A. River who shares my belief in the untapped greatness of our city -- greatness we can unleash if we harness innovative solutions to create jobs and and make City Hall work again,'' Garcetti said.

Jose Huizar of nearby Council District 14 as well as Tony Cardenas and Bill Rosendahl have given their support to Wendy Gruel. Bernard Parks has endorsed Jan Perry.

The influential Democratic Party of the San Fernando Valley also gave Garcetti a thumbs up this week, possibly influenced by a preliminary poll from The Center for the Study of Los Angeles.

It showed Garcetti as the frontrunner in the race and favored by Latinos and Asian-Americans.

Among "decided voters" surveyed, Garcetti led with 36 percent, with Gruel following at 32 percent, followed by Perry with 15 percent and attorney Kevin James with 8.7 percent.

Asian-American and Latino voters favored Garcetti, whose father is of Mexican ancestry. Perry, an African-American, polled at 51 percent with African American voters, while Greuel won with white voters.

Gruel also slightly outpulled Garcetti when subjects were asked who they would choose in a runoff, with just over 50 percent.

The poll also noted that two-thirds of the voters surveyed were still undecided in advance of the March 5 vote.

Garcetti campaign strategist Bill Carrick called the endorsement by the Democratic Party of San Fernando Valley -- 63 percent of its voting members supported Garcetti -- ``a tremendous asset for our ground game."