Marissa Roy Wins Los Angeles City Attorney Race

Roy captured 66.44% of the vote over John McKinney and is set to succeed incumbent City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto.

Updated on Nov. 5, 2026 in Elections

Marissa Roy Wins Los Angeles City Attorney Race

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Marissa Roy won the Los Angeles city attorney election on November 3 with 393,607 votes, or 66.44%, defeating John McKinney, who received 198,831 votes, or 33.56%. Roy is set to succeed incumbent City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto, who was eliminated in the June primary.

Why it matters

The city attorney oversees legal action on behalf of the city, and the transition marks a change in leadership for Los Angeles's legal office. Roy's background in public-interest law, shaped in part by California's same-sex marriage fight, signals the direction of her tenure.

Roy received 393,607 votes, or 66.44%, compared with McKinney's 198,831 votes, or 33.56%, in the November 3 Los Angeles city attorney election. Roy's record of more than a dozen cases against the first Trump administration and her work on litigation against Meta are part of her professional background.

The players

Marissa Roy

Roy is a Los Angeles lawyer who previously worked in the city attorney's office and in the California Attorney General's office, and who has built a record of public-interest litigation.

Hydee Feldstein Soto

Soto served as Los Angeles city attorney after being elected in 2022 as the first woman to hold the office, and was eliminated in the June primary.

John McKinney

McKinney was Roy's opponent in the November 3 Los Angeles city attorney race, receiving 33.56% of the vote.

The details

Roy, 34, grew up in Monrovia and attended Flintridge Preparatory School before earning a scholarship to the University of Southern California and later attending Yale Law School. She joined the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office in 2017 through a Justice Catalyst fellowship and later worked as a deputy attorney general in California Attorney General Rob Bonta's office.

2008: California voters approved Proposition 8, banning same-sex marriage.
2017: Roy joined the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office.
2022: Hydee Feldstein Soto was elected as the first woman city attorney.
June 2026: Soto was eliminated in the June primary election.
November 3, 2026: Los Angeles city attorney election held.

Political Context

Roy's interest in public-interest law grew out of the legal battle over same-sex marriage that followed California's 2008 passage of Proposition 8. Her election places a lawyer shaped by that fight in charge of the city's legal office.

Roy's tenure will shape how the city attorney's office handles litigation on behalf of Los Angeles residents and the city. Residents may see changes in the office's priorities once Roy succeeds Soto.

The takeaway

Local offices such as city attorney shape legal action that affects residents directly, so paying attention to these races matters. Voters can track how new officeholders follow through on the priorities they campaigned on.