Los Angeles City Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson, who moonlights as DJ “El Mero Mero” (Spanish for “The Head Honcho”), has officially lived up to his nickname, taking over as the new council president. The swearing-in of new council leadership is always significant, as the president wields immense power in LA politics. But Harris-Dawson’s rise comes with an added layer of intrigue—his close relationship with Mayor Karen Bass, the other “head honcho” at City Hall.
The mayor and council president traditionally sit at the twin centers of City Hall power, and that relationship can often be fraught. However, Harris-Dawson and Bass go way back. She gave him his first job at Community Coalition, the grassroots group she founded, which he later led when she transitioned to politics. It was also the CoCo crew that dubbed him “El Mero Mero.”
Bass and Harris-Dawson acknowledge the history of tension between the two offices, but both claim they’re committed to avoiding the usual infighting, especially as the city grapples with a budget crisis and mounting pressure over homelessness.
“This could be an era of good feelings in LA,” says Jeremy Oberstein, a communications strategist and City Hall veteran. “But we’ve got big problems, and big problems can lead to big conflicts. The trust between Bass and Harris-Dawson might help push through good policy.”
Bass has made collaboration a central theme of her administration, often talking about “locking arms” with other branches of government, particularly with LA County, which has historically been at odds with the city. The challenge now is whether Bass and Harris-Dawson can break City Hall’s ingrained tendency toward adversarial council-mayor dynamics. For Harris-Dawson, the test will be assuring his fellow council members that he won’t be a rubber stamp for the mayor.
Those assurances were key to his securing the council presidency, though his close ties to Bass weren’t highlighted at Friday’s swearing-in. Still, the subtext was there in the praise from his colleagues.
