On December 8, 2009, Krekorian won a seat on the Los Angeles City Council, representing Los Angeles City Council District 2. He is the Chair of the city's Budget and Finance Committee and the Ad Hoc Committee on Job Creation, the Vice Chair of the Housing Committee, and sits on the Energy, Climate Change and Environmental Justice Committee, Trade, Travel and Tourism Committee, Executive Employee Relations Committee and the Board of Referred Powers. He also serves on the board of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) and Metrolink (Southern California), and sits on the San Fernando Valley Council of Governments, a coalition of leaders advocating for the Valley's two million residents. His campaign officially began on July 10, 2009, when Krekorian officially announced his candidacy to fill the vacant District 2 seat in a special election. The primary was held on September 22, in which Krekorian placed first with 34% of the vote. A run-off was scheduled for December 8 and, aided by support from a number of public safety, environmental and Democratic groups, including Los Angeles Daily News, the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City, the Los Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club, and the Democratic Party of the San Fernando Valley, Krekorian soundly defeated Christine Essel with more than 56% of the vote, despite being outspent 2-1 in overall campaign dollars and 13-1 in third-party political committee donations.