Marqueece Harris-Dawson


Marqueece Harris-Dawson is an American politician and the incumbent member of the Los Angeles City Council, representing Los Angeles City Council District 8 of western Southwest Los Angeles.
He took office as Councilperson on 1 July 2015. District 8 includes the Baldwin Hills, West Adams, and Crenshaw communities, and other neighborhoods in western South Los Angeles.

Early life

Harris-Dawson was born and raised in South Central Los Angeles. Councilmember Harris-Dawson grew up in South Los Angeles during the crack cocaine epidemic. His family moved from their neighborhood to protect their children from police and gang violence.

Professional career

Harris-Dawson graduated from Morehouse College with a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science and Mathematics. In 1995, he joined Community Coalition under then founder and current Congresswoman Karen Bass.

Political career

Dawson's first campaign as a community organizer was to change the conditions of schools in South Los Angeles and to infuse equity in the distribution of education funding. As a result of the campaign, South Los Angeles schools received an investment of $153 million for repair and modernization. He served as its President and CEO from 2004 to 2014. He was the coordinator for the 1999 re-election campaign of Mark Ridley-Thomas in District 2 of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
Harris-Dawson holds a certificate in non-profit management from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and is an Aspen Institute Pahara Fellow.

Campaign for City Council, 2015

In the primary election for District 8 in 2015, Harris-Dawson received over 62% of the vote for the vacant seat. Because Harris-Dawson won outright, a general election for District 8 was not needed. Term limits forced Bernard C. Parks, Harris-Dawson's predecessor since 2004, out of office.

City Council

Proposition HHH

In 2016, Councilmember Harris-Dawson co-authored Proposition HHH, a $1.2 billion bond measure to build permanent supportive housing for homeless people and people at risk of becoming homeless. The measure appeared on the November 2016 municipal ballot and passed, with voters approving the measure 77% to 23%.