Politicians who want to win over African American voters in Los Angeles have long seen winning over their pastors as a key step.
The race to replace retiring Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke is no exception. Both of the major candidates in the June 3 contest for the 2nd District seat are courting supporters among the members and leaders of the district's hundreds of churches.
State Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas (D-Los Angeles), with deep ties to Los Angeles religious leaders, to date has outpaced his main rival, Los Angeles City Councilman Bernard C. Parks, in terms of pastoral endorsements.
Ridley-Thomas has received the backing of more than 45 pastors, including many who lead large, active churches. Parks has been endorsed by five clergy members to date, including one of the city's more prominent ones.
Though it is unclear how active the ministers will be in campaigning for their candidates, their endorsements can be especially important in close contests, political observers say.
"When you like both candidates, sometimes when your pastor is supporting a candidate, that might tip the scale," said Kerman Maddox, a political consultant who has worked for Ridley-Thomas and Parks in the past but has no connection to either in this contest.
"When we run campaigns," Maddox said of political strategists overseeing races in African American communities, "we really, really go after religious leaders because they move voters."
Parks and Ridley-Thomas participated in a charged debate Thursday night in their race for the 2nd District, which stretches from Culver City and Mar Vista in the northwest to Carson and Compton in the southeast. The district is home to about 1,500 churches, according to Burke's office.
Though the pastors must avoid making endorsements in their official roles or risk losing their churches' tax-exempt status, they can -- and often do -- give candidates their individual backing.
(It's a delicate balance. In February, a Buena Park pastor, the Rev. Wiley Drake, learned that the IRS was investigating his endorsement, written on church letterhead and announced on a church-affiliated radio show, of Mike Huckabee for president.)
Dermot Givens, a lawyer and political consultant who has worked for both candidates but is not involved in this campaign, said a pastor will "make it very clear: 'I'm not making an endorsement for the church, I'm not telling people who to vote for. I'm telling you everybody needs to vote, but I'm voting for so and so.' "
