{"id":48432,"date":"2025-11-11T18:38:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T18:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/48432\/"},"modified":"2025-11-11T18:38:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T18:38:09","slug":"can-l-a-get-its-own-zohran-mamdani-two-latina-mayors-are-paving-the-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/48432\/","title":{"rendered":"Can L.A. get its own Zohran Mamdani? Two Latina mayors are paving the way"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Following the historic victory of democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani<\/a> in the New York City mayoral election, many Los Angeles-based admirers of the 34-year-old politician\u2019s campaign and agenda have longingly wondered: When will a political spark plug like that happen in L.A.? <\/p>\n

Looking at the mayoral landscape of L.A. County, there are two existing mayors that espouse similarly progressive ideologies as Mamdani: Burbank Mayor Nikki Perez and Cudahy Mayor Elizabeth Alcantar Loza. Both elected officials have worked with and been recommended<\/a> by the Los Angeles chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America.<\/p>\n

Nikki Perez<\/p>\n

Perez was sworn in as Burbank\u2019s youngest mayor in 2024 at the age of 30. She is also the first Indigenous and out LGBTQ+ mayor to serve the city. The politician was first voted onto the City Council in 2022. <\/p>\n

She was raised by parents who emigrated from Guatemala and El Salvador to Burbank. Perez received her bachelor\u2019s degree from UC Riverside and a master\u2019s from UCLA. <\/p>\n

Prior to becoming a council member, she worked as a social worker with the L.A. Unified School District, served in the state Assembly as the communications director and functioned as a development coordinator for the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.<\/p>\n

A key issue for Perez \u2014 and a common rallying point for democratic socialists \u2014 was having sufficient affordable housing options in the Media Capital of the World. The City Council has a goal of constructing 12,000 new housing units in the municipality and has accepted plans on two<\/a> projects<\/a> that are expected to create about 200 housing units.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the point of view of our average residents, most people just really want to be able to live, to work and to play in Burbank, so that\u2019s what my priorities are,\u201d then-Vice Mayor Perez told her constituents in 2024. \u201cI want my very first priority to be continuing our efforts of alleviating the housing crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cognizant of the unstable job market for production, or below-the-line, workers in the entertainment industry, Perez has attempted to combat the shrinking creative job prospects in her city.<\/p>\n

In July \u2014 while celebrating the expansion of California\u2019s film and television tax credit program<\/a> alongside Gov. Gavin Newsom \u2014 Burbank launched a task force made up of professionals and stakeholders from across the entertainment sector to identify challenges, explore new opportunities and shape policies that help retain and grow industry jobs in the city.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth Alcantar Loza<\/p>\n

Before joining the City Council of her hometown of Cudahy, Alcantar Loza worked with the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, or CHIRLA, to organize and educate community members about immigration issues. In November 2018, she was elected to the City Council and served as vice mayor of Cudahy. <\/p>\n

She then served as Cudahy\u2019s first Latina mayor beginning in 2020, when she led the southeast L.A. County city during the 2020 Delta jet fuel dump<\/a> and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. <\/p>\n

In November 2023, Alcantar Loza was a City Council member when Cudahy became the first city in Southern California to support the Palestinian people of Gaza<\/a> with a resolution that not only called for a cease-fire, but declared Israel\u2019s government as \u201cengaging in collective punishment\u201d in response to the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas militants. The resolution passed on a 3-1 vote after hours of public comments and deliberation. <\/p>\n

Last year, she was reinstated as the largely Latino city\u2019s mayor, and in December, she led the City Council to vote to divest from investments that contribute to Israel\u2019s occupation<\/a> of Palestinian territories and what it considers genocide in Gaza. The five-member council voted unanimously to divest city funds from all arms and weapons manufacturing industries.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a progressive leader representing one of our SELA cities, I am committed to ethical governance that prioritizes integrity, accountability, and the trust of the people I serve. Every decision I make is guided by a deep responsibility to transparency and equity in every policy we enact, with a commitment to rejecting backroom deals and self-serving politics,\u201d she wrote in a social media post<\/a> about her political ideologies. <\/p>\n

\u201cTrue leadership is not just about upholding the highest ethical standards but actively building a government that serves the people \u2014 not special interests or the politically connected. I look forward to collaborating with other progressive elected officials across our region who share these values, working together to transform the experience of our residents and redefine the narrative of Southeast L.A.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following Mamdani\u2019s win, Alcantar Loza expressed joy for a national recognition that progressive ideals are popular.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an exciting time to see someone that is so like-minded, that is talking about the issues that matter most to our communities, actually win and win big for our communities and have a plan that will hopefully support folks that are very similar to our folks here,\u201d Alcantar Loza told The Times. <\/p>\n

While her city doesn\u2019t have the same monetary sway or resources as New York City, the 32-year-old mayor noted that Cudahy is working with its limited funds to address the needs of as many citizens as possible. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe often hear the phrase that a city\u2019s budget is a list of the city\u2019s priorities, and it\u2019s something that rings really true,\u201d she said. \u201cIn Cudahy, we\u2019re really pushing forward with advancing programs that support the community. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re so used to funding certain programs over for others. It\u2019s often thought that every budget is touchable, except police and fire services. Those are important services to fund, but so are community program services ensuring that our kids have somewhere to go after school so that they\u2019re not engaging in violent activity or activities they shouldn\u2019t be participating in.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of Alcantar Loza\u2019s main concerns is ensuring renters\u2019 rights and that their needs are taken care of as over 80% of housing units in Cudahy are rentals. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important for us to fund programs and staff that support the renter community in knowing their rights and knowing what they can and cannot do, just how to keep folks housed because we should be catering to the needs of our of our most vulnerable folks,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n

The fight for rent stabilization is one that Alcantar Loza has been fighting for over half a decade now. She first tried to push it forward in 2019, but it lacked the votes on the City Council and it failed to pass again in 2021, despite a robust campaigning effort. In 2023, Cudahy\u2019s City Council was able to get a Latina majority and advanced rent stabilization. <\/p>\n

Additionally, the city established a minimum threshold for eviction<\/a> in October in cases where a tenant has missed rent. Under the ordinance, a landlord may only initiate an eviction if the amount of rent missed exceeds one month of the fair market rent for the Los Angeles metro area, as determined annually by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. <\/p>\n

One obstacle that Alcantar Loza has noticed in her work has been with citizens envisioning what progress looks like in their day-to-day life. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s difficult to help others visualize the opportunities in their community,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s easier for folks to imagine business as usual because it\u2019s been happening for so long. They do not know how to visualize something new.<\/p>\n

\u201cGifting people the opportunity to visualize something new, to think about other ways to support their community is a very powerful tool that we\u2019ve been able to implement and show folks there are other ways to do policy other than what we\u2019re used to.\u201d<\/p>\n