🗳️ November 2026 General Election Ballot Analysis (II): County and City (L.A.) Local Offices

Here in California (and in Los Angeles in particular), we have an election coming up. You know what that means: Every election, I do a detailed ballot analysis of my sample ballot. This is where I examine each candidate and share my conclusions, and invite you to convince me to vote for the other jerk.  Because this is a long ballot, I’m splitting this analysis into a few chunks (note: links may not be available until all segments are posted):

1. State and National Offices (excluding judges)
2. County and City (Los Angeles) Local Offices (excluding judges)
3. Measures / Propositions
4. Judicial Offices (County and State)
5. Summary

Note: This analysis is NOT presented in the same order as the Sample Ballot (the ballot order makes no sense). I’ve attempted instead to present things in more logical order.

This part covers the Local Offices (excluding US Congress and State Assembly)

• County of Los Angeles: County Sheriff
• City of Los Angeles: Mayor of Los Angeles ❦ City Attorney ❦ City Controller
• Los Angeles Community College District: Seat № 2 ❦ Seat № 4 ❦ Seat № 6

Note: Please read the introductory post (Part I). There is a discussion there of a number of topics related to the election: Israel, Single Payer Health Care, the SB1 Gas Tax, High Speed Rail, PAC Donations, and “When California Was Best” that apply to all candidates. Further, the introductory post covers reuse of the analysis from the primary: generally, candidates don’t change their spots, and my primary positions hold into the general. When my favored candidate didn’t move forward or significant new information surfaced, then I reexamine positions.

🗳️

County of Los Angeles

County Sheriff

The LA County Sheriff is the top law enforcement officer in the County and the executive head of the Sheriff’s Department. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) serves as the primary law enforcement agency for unincorporated areas and 42 contracted cities, overseeing the nation’s largest jail system, providing courthouse security for the Superior Court, and patrolling county facilities, parks, and transit systems. Key duties include crime prevention, investigations, and emergency response. After years and years of having the same sheriff (Peter Pitchess, who served from 1958 to 1981), the County has had a series of poor Sheriffs.

My take: Remember that perfection is the enemy of good enough. We’ve had a series of bad and corrupt sheriffs—and in this election, one is even trying to get his office back. The best way to improve the department is steady, sound, leadership, with continual improvements over time. Unless there is evidence of corruption, malfeasance, aggressive misbehavior, or a pattern of civil rights violations, as there was with Villanueva, continually changing leads because “I have a better idea” just introduces churn and creates work for business card printers and door sign painters.

Useful resources:

• LA Times, “Your guide to the L.A. County sheriff’s race: Robert Luna faces seven challengers“

⚫ Robert Luna (NP/Leans 🐴, but 🐘 until 2022) ⭐INC

Robert G. Luna was elected as the 34p Los Angeles County Sheriff on November 8, 2022.  In 2021, Sheriff Luna completed his service as Long Beach Chief of Police, capping a 36-year career at the Long Beach Police Department, Los Angeles County’s second largest police department. Sheriff Luna started as a Long Beach Police Department reserve officer in 1985 and was promoted within every rank of the Police Department. He was appointed Chief of Police in 2014. During his time as Chief of Police, he served on the Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCCA) executive board and Homeland Security Committee, and on the Police Executive Leadership Institute (PELI) mentorship program. He also received various awards from organizations in Long Beach for his civic leadership and community engagement. Sheriff Luna is a graduate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) National Executive Institute and National Academy, Harvard University’s program for senior executives in state and local government, and the University of Southern California’s (USC) Delinquency Control Institute. In addition, Sheriff Luna holds a Master’s in Public Administration from California State University Long Beach.
(Source: Sheriff Staff Bios)

The LA Times notes that there has been a reduction in crime for the county during Luna’s term. In 2025, deputy-patrolled areas of the county experienced a 12.5% drop in serious crimes from the previous year, including a drop of 12% in murders and 20% in auto thefts.

Luna’s campaign webpage indicates the following five priorities: (1) Reduce Violent Crime; (2) Increase Public Trust; (3) Modernize the Department; (4) Address Homelessness; and (5) Improve Deputy and Employee Wellness. These are reasonable priorities.

According to the LA Times article, Luna has been working to improve county jail conditions. More than 1,200 body cameras are being used, use-of-force incidents are down, and he created a unit within custody operations to review such incidents faster. A new mental health assessment area has been added to the inmate reception center downtown, and he’s proposing the county build a correctional health center modeled after the state hospital system to secure inmates but also provide better medical service. Luna has also rebuilt relationships with other county agencies and oversight bodies. He believes in oversight, and has worked to share information unless advised by the county counsel not to share because of confidentiality and labor laws. He has refreshed marketing to bring in new deputies, and has seen incremental improvements.

His campaign website describes the improvements he has made to the department. (1) violent crime has fallen every year in the areas patrolled by LASD, and homicides are down 25% since 2023; (2) creation of a new Crime Strategy Unit, leveraging data and community involvement to reduce crime; (3) working with Metro to adopt new policies and surge law enforcement staffing, enforcing fare evasion and targeting narcotics, which led to fewer incidents of violent crime; (4) increasing the Department’s clearance rates, or the percentage of reported crimes that are solved, each year for both violent and property crimes; (5) decreasing use of force issues each year during his tenure, with the overall count down 25% since 2023; (6) creating the Office of Constitutional Policing and instituting a policy banning law enforcement gangs; (7) increased transparency at LASD, including outfitting deputies in LA County jails with body-worn cameras for the first time, timely releases of body-camera video, creating a new public dashboard with crime stats, and posting data on uses of force, taser usage, stops, and personnel complaints, all on the Department’s website.

According to Google AI, internal department criticisms of Luna include the (1) the Staffing and Morale Crisis, with department vacancies causing severe understaffing forcing deputies into relentless mandatory overtime, leading to plummeting morale; (2) a Perceived Lack of Support, with some deputies argue that Luna prioritizes public image and political standing over supporting his rank-and-file officers during high-scrutiny incidents; and (3) Alleged Cronyism, where insiders and critical reports have alleged favoritism in top-level promotions and ignoring standard nepotism policies. There are also concerns about Deputy Gangs and Transparency, which was a concern during Villanueva’s administration Specifically, while Luna campaigned on eradicating the department’s notorious “deputy gangs,” some oversight groups and critics argue his actions have been too slow or represent “smoke and mirrors”.

He has a large number of endorsements. These include labor unions, elected officials, and community organizations. Notable in the organizations is the Los Angeles County Police Chiefs Association.

◯ Alex Villanueva (NP/Leans 🐘, but previously 🐴)

Villanueva was the previous sheriff. He defeated incumbent Sheriff Jim McDonnell in the 2018 L.A. County sheriff’s race, making him the first to unseat an incumbent in over 100 years. Before becoming sheriff, he was a lieutenant with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The first member of the Democratic Party to be elected sheriff in 138 years, Villanueva campaigned as a reformer and appealed to some progressive values, but has received notoriety for more conservative policies during his tenure, as well as high levels of corruption. Villanueva lost his bid for reelection in 2022 by a wide margin of 61.3% to 38.7% against former Long Beach Police Department chief Robert Luna. He became a Republican in 2025.
(Source: Wikipedia)

Google AI reports that Alex Villanueva’s tenure as Los Angeles County Sheriff (2018–2022) was marked by intense controversy, characterized by battles with oversight bodies, defiance of subpoenas, and allegations of deputy misconduct. Key issues included his alleged protection of deputy “gangs,” retaliation against critics, controversial reinstatements of fired deputies, and high-profile fights with the Board of Supervisors.

According to the LA Times, with respect to Jail conditions, Villanueva said the department would continue to abide by Senate Bill 54, the state law that restricts local law enforcement from working with immigration officers and prevents them from holding inmates past release dates so they can be detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It also prevents local officials from sharing inmate information with ICE. In his discussion with the times, he did not indicate he would encourage or cooperate with oversight; he famously did not during his first term. With respect to recruitment, he believes a recent spate of deputy suicides was tied to burnout from long hours, but said the department should be encouraging employees to recruit their friends and family. He also believes his leadership might help bring more deputies on board. Specifically, he said “My presence on the ballot itself is a huge lift on morale”, which seems to be quite the cult of personality.

At least on FB, Villanueva has been doing some very nasty smear campaigning against Robert Luna, using claims that appear to be exaggerated or sensationalized, or drawing inferences that appear false. For example, this morning (Tue 5/5), I was served a Villanueva ad implying there was something sinister because Luna supports Mayor Bass. Perhaps that’s a strange Republican delusion, but supporting the Mayor in a city within your jurisdiction doesn’t seem to be a problem. Rather, it seems to be the sign of a good working relationship between LA City and LA County. This advertising is problematic.

He is endorsed by a large number of elected leaders, generally Republican, as well as a number of Police Officers Associations and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Professional Association. He is endorsed by the LA County Republican Party. He has no labor endorsements.

📋 Conclusion

The first question is: Does Luna need to be replaced, or has this merry-go-round of Sheriff’s gone on long enough? Luna still has the support of county leadership. His support from his rank-and-file is less clear, but the rank-and-file would not like any leader that is making changes that are in any sense progressive. Villanueva claims they want him back, but those who remember the 2022 election will recall the rank-and-file didn’t like him either. My gut is saying that we’ve been on the merry-go-round long enough, and that Luna is doing a good enough job to give him one more term to solidify his changes.

For those that believe Luna needs to be replaced, the question becomes “Is Villanueva the right replacement?” Certainly not. Villanueva’s behavior while he was Sheriff was unacceptable, and his behavior now is unacceptable.

Conclusion: ⚫ Robert Luna (NP/Leans 🐴, but 🐘 until 2022) ⭐INC

🗳️

City of Los Angeles

Mayor of Los Angeles

The Mayor of Los Angeles is the city’s chief executive officer, elected to a four-year term to oversee city departments, enforce ordinances, and manage a multibillion-dollar budget. Key duties include appointing general managers and commissioners, proposing the annual budget, vetoing council legislation, and directing emergency operations.

Useful Reference:

• LAist, “Voter Guide: Los Angeles mayor“
• LA Times, “Your guide to the race for L.A. mayor: Four major challengers look to unseat Karen Bass“

⚫ Karen Bass (NP/Leans 🐴) ⭐INC

Karen Bass has been the 43^rd mayor of Los Angeles since 2022. Bass previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2011 to 2022 and in the California State Assembly from 2004 to 2010, serving as speaker during her final term. After attending San Diego State University and California State University, Dominguez Hills, Bass worked as a physician assistant and community organizer, before being elected to represent California’s 47^th State Assembly district in 2004. In 2008, she was elected to serve as the 67^th speaker of the California State Assembly, becoming the first African-American woman in United States history to serve as a speaker of a state legislative body. Bass was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010. She represented California’s 33^rd congressional district during her first term; redistribution of districts moved her to 37^th district in 2012. She chaired the Congressional Black Caucus during the 116th Congress.

For all of the major Mayoral candidates, I’m asking Google AI to summarize the negatives about the candidate. The AI notes that Bass has faced intense criticism, primarily surrounding her handling of the 2025 Pacific Palisades fires, alleged mismanagement of fire department resources, and overseas travel during crises. Critics, including political opponents, have accused her of overseeing budget cuts to the fire department and attempting to alter, or “water down,” critical after-action reports concerning the fatal fire response. The specific key negatives and criticisms surrounding Mayor Karen Bass include:

• • • Fire Response & Travel: Bass received severe backlash for traveling to Ghana for an inauguration during major wildfires in early 2025. Critics termed her absence “disgraceful,” particularly as she reportedly ignored initial questions upon her return.
    • “Firegate” Allegations: Reports emerged in 2026 alleging that Bass or her office pushed to edit a key after-action report on the Palisades fire to reduce criticism of the city’s inadequate, understaffed response. Critics claimed she tried to avoid legal liability, though she denied these allegations.
    • Budget Cuts: Bass has been criticized for cutting the LA Fire Department budget by millions of dollars prior to the wildfires, which some allege resulted in water shortages and equipment issues.
    • Resignation Demands & Low Approval: A petition calling for her resignation gained over 140,000 signatures following the fire crisis, with polling showing that a significant portion of residents viewed her response as poor.
    • Political Criticism: She has been labeled “inefficient” by critics like Elon Musk and faced criticism from opponent Rick Caruso over the fire safety response.
    • Policy Positions: Some progressives criticized her approach to law enforcement, noting her rejection of the “defund the police” movement and her plans to increase LAPD staffing.

The political criticism I can dismiss, as I do not have a high opinion of either Caruso or Musk. In fact, one of my negatives regarding Mahan for Governor is that Caruso supports him. But a number of the other complaints are valid, in particular the “Firegate” allegations. Bass also has only been somewhat effective regarding the homeless, she has a mixed record regarding public safety, and (as most LA politicians do), she has forgotten the San Fernando Valley.

But this is a nasty race. Bass has a specific page where she highlights the negatives of Raman, and notes what Bass would do different. It is convincing. She also notes that “Spencer Pratt has been able to solidify the MAGA vote bloc behind his candidacy and is a strong contender for the second spot.” But now that Pratt is out of the race, where will his supporters go? The Police Protective League, which backed Pratt, is certainly pushing Bass — or is at least anti-Ramen, pushing her DSA ties.

Bass’ campaign pages note the progress that has been made under her administration. She writes, “in just three years, we’ve created change and turned things around. Street homelessness is down for the first time in modern memory. Crime has fallen, with homicide levels lower than they’ve been since the 1960s. We’re accelerating nearly 40,000 units of housing after decades of under-building. And we’ve launched LA’s first-ever infrastructure plan to fix the sidewalks, streets, and streetlights that were neglected for far too long.”.  She indicates she wants to build on this, and has no further political plans after her second term as Mayor. That, of course, could change, as we’ve seen with Antonio Villaraigosa. She specifically notes the following accomplishments: (1) Street Homelessness Is Down 17.5 percent; (2) New housing policies are already accelerating nearly 40,000 units of housing; (3) Renter protections thanks to her signing into the law the first improvements to the City’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance in 40 years to limit rent increases and protect tenants; (4) Job growth through the start of construction on a new Convention Center for LA (leading to more investment) and the appointing of a Film Czar and the cutting city fees and an expanded film & TV tax credit (which is resulting in the return of productions to LA); (5) More Officers, Community Policing & Lower Crime, including the hiring of more police officers hired, the creation of the first-ever Office of Community Safety to increase civilian crisis response and community violence intervention, and the reduction of homicides to the lowest levels since the 1960s; (6) the creation of LA’s first-ever Comprehensive Infrastructure Plan, which will create a real roadmap to fix our infrastructure; and (7) Standing up to Trump, being in ICE’s face on the streets, and organizing Angelenos, dozens of local mayors and mayors nationally to stand against ICE and troop deployments and to stand up for our immigrants. She then links to more specifics.

What she doesn’t have on her website is a specific plan for her second term. Again, Google AI came to the rescue, noting that she is focusing on expanding her initial efforts to combat homelessness, increasing affordable housing, and enhancing public safety, including hiring more LAPD officers. Her proposed $14.9 billion 2026-27 budget aims for no layoffs while prioritizing infrastructure improvements and preparing for the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympics. It identified the following Key Second Term Priorities:

• • • Homelessness and Housing: Continue reducing street homelessness—which decreased 17.5% during her first term—by building on the accelerated production of thousands of affordable housing units and implementing new renter protections.
    • Public Safety and Policing: Focus on expanding the police force to bolster staffing levels following years of decline, while maintaining the Office of Community Safety to expand civilian crisis responses.
    • Infrastructure and Future Events: Implement the city’s first-ever Comprehensive Infrastructure Plan to repair sidewalks, streets, and streetlights. Focus on preparing city infrastructure for major upcoming events, including the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Olympics.
    • Budget Management: The 2026-27 proposed spending plan reflects increased revenue from taxes, allowing for a balanced budget that avoids layoffs, aiming to stabilize the city’s financial standing after facing a potential $1 billion deficit.

In an interview with LAist, Bass talks about what she would have done differently with respect to the wildfires. In fact, her first response was “Oh my goodness. I would have to say, what would I have done the same?” She basically said the city needs to be better prepared for these events  and to take warnings more seriously: “It looks as though we are going to have a problem, whether it’s the rain, mudslides, whatever, and all of the departments and everybody is lined up to pre-deployment to get everything ready in advance. And that didn’t happen in the city. It also didn’t happen in the county. And so what has happened since then, I think is indicative of what I would’ve done differently, which is we go overboard now in terms of planning pre-deployment, making sure that there are fire engines all around vulnerable areas. Even if we don’t necessarily expect that it’s going to be devastating, but being very aggressive with prevention and that did not take place.” She’s also emphasizing prevention and brush clearance, which wasn’t pushed as strongly before. She does talk about the recovery. She notes “we were able to get the clearing of the debris in record time, months and months before it would’ve been. And then we took a lot of the lessons that we learned in addressing homelessness and expediting the permitting process, and applied that to the Palisades.” and “we’ve issued over 2,000 permits for over a thousand properties. Homes are being rebuilt at record speed. We have over 400 homes that are actively under construction now. People will begin moving in this summer.” But she noted that “The biggest problem in the Palisades now is the insurance industry and the banking industry. So you have hundreds of people that have been issued permits and plans have been approved, but they’re still not ready to rebuild because they wanna make sure that they’re gonna be insured and they’re gonna make sure that they have the financing to rebuild.”

With respect to homelessness, Larry Mantle held her feet to the fire regarding the efficacy of Inside SAFE. She admitted it wasn’t a perfect program, but it was getting people off the streets. She noted “along with Inside Safe, I also did an executive directive in my first couple of weeks to expedite the building of housing. We need more housing, there’s no question about that. So I’m fast tracking 42,000 units of affordable housing and 6,000 of those units are under construction right now.”

There’s a lot more in the interview, and it is well worth reading.

Bass has a broad set of endorsements, much more than any other candidate. Democratic Clubs. Issue-Focused Organizations. Unions. A modest list of election officials, but ones with clout, such as Kamala Harris, Adam Schiff, Brad Sherman, and most of the LA City Council.

◯ Nithya Raman (NP/Leans 🐴)

According to Wikipedia, Raman is an Councilmember for CD4 since 202, a member of the Democratic Party and the Democratic Socialists. She earned a bachelor’s degree in political theory from Harvard University then a master’s degree in urban planning from MIT. After living in the United States for many years, Raman returned to her home country of India and founded the research firm Transparent Chennai. The firm’s goal was to improve sanitation in the city of Chennai. In 2013, Raman moved to Los Angeles and worked for the city administrative officer of Los Angeles. In 2017, Raman founded and headed SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition, a homelessness outreach nonprofit in Los Angeles; she also served as the executive director of Time’s Up Entertainment. Raman became a naturalized American citizen at the age of 22.

I asked Google AI to provide a summary of Raman’s negatives as a prelude to reviewing her plans and promises. The Google AI indicated that concerns regarding Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman often focus on her approach to homelessness, public safety, and her perceived political alignment. As she campaigns for Mayor in the June 2026 primary, these criticisms have intensified from both constituents and political opponents. They fall into the following areas:

1. 1. 1. 1. Homelessness and Public Safety. Critics frequently target Raman’s opposition to stricter enforcement of encampment bans. There are three primary areas: (•) Encampment Ordinances: Raman has consistently voted against or questioned the effectiveness of ordinances like 41.18, which bans encampments within 500 feet of schools and parks. Opponents argue this creates unsafe environments for families and students. (•) “Inside Safe” Criticism: She has proposed scaling back Mayor Karen Bass’s signature Inside Safe program, calling it too expensive and advocating for more cost-effective shelter options. Critics, including the Bass campaign, have called her alternative plans “unrealistic”. (•) Police Funding: Her votes against certain LAPD funding allocations have led critics to label her “anti-police”.
         2. Political and Constituency Criticism. Raman’s late entry into the 2026 mayoral race has also sparked internal political backlash. Again, there are three areas of concern. (•) “Political Opportunism”: Some colleagues and labor leaders, such as Yvonne Wheeler of the L.A. County Federation of Labor, have characterized her run as “selfish ambition” and a “distraction,” noting she had supported Mayor Bass’s re-election only weeks prior. (•)  Constituent Services: Some neighborhood activists argue her focus on broad structural reforms comes at the expense of “quality-of-life” concerns like basic street repairs and immediate constituent needs. (•) Ideological Friction: While she is often associated with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), she has also faced criticism from the left for being too independent, such as her support for easing the “mansion tax” to encourage apartment construction.
         3. Noteworthy Incidents. There are also two incidents that keep being brought up. (•) School Buffer Zone Viral Clip: A video of Raman appearing to dismiss concerns about a homeless encampment near a school—and reportedly rolling her eyes at a resident—went viral, fueling accusations that she is out of touch with safety concerns. (•) Bureaucracy Concerns: Critics of her proposed “Bureau of Homelessness Oversight” argue it would add unnecessary red tape to a system that already has oversight via the City Controller.

So lets turn and look at what she is saying. Her campaign website lists four commitments she is making: (1) Fix the city: fill the potholes, pave the roads, plant trees, turn on streetlights, and put a park near where you live; (2) Protect Angelenos: from ICE, from harassing landlords, from unsafe streets, from fires and natural disasters. I’ll make sure when you call 911, someone actually shows up; (3) End the pay-to-play politics that have dominated the city for decades. I will not make political decisions. Only the best decisions for Angelenos; (4) Bring the jobs back. I’ll make it easier to start and run a business. We’ll revive small businesses, support restaurants and bars, and bring the Hollywood jobs back home.

She has five distinct issues pages that describe how she will do this: Homelessness | Housing | Protect renters | Transportation | Hollywood Jobs | Parks & Shade. I read through the pages. Her plans are detailed and well thought out. Certain plans are sure to draw the ire of groups. For example her plan to Protect renters is sure to draw the ire of the powerful realtor and apartment owners organizations. Now that I’m aware of this, I’m going to see how many of the attack ads against her are being funded by this group. But her goal to protect renters isn’t a surprise: it comes from the constituency she was elected to represent, as CD4 has loads of renters. Those that represent the more suburban single-family-home areas might have different views. But reading through the rental protection plans, they make sense. This includes cracking down on vacation rentals and supporting small landlords. Her particular ire seems focused on the corporate landlords, and those who are pulling rental stock from the markets, evicting tenants, and then getting the stock back at higher rents.

I looked particularly at her Transportation plan. Her plan to expedite projects and construction is good, but doesn’t recognize some of the major problems, such as utilities that balk on moving lines or services. This adds delays to the projects, which increase costs. Edison is well known for this, as are other private concerns such as the railroads. Her bus plan is similarly incomplete: It fails to address the fact that while bus service in the urban core is strong, it is piss poor in the northern valley (there are no lines running N of Devonshire, for example). Busing and transit needs to serve ALL of the city. Her other transportation ideas are good.

After reading through all her plans, they seem well thought out. However, she is inconsistent in her coverage, and I’m not sure she “gets” the concerns of all of the city. Her plans are great in the urban core, in Hollywood, and perhaps even on the West Side. Do they work equally in NoHo? In Porter Ranch? In Sylmar? Do they work down in San Pedro or the Shoestring Annex or in Westchester? Do they protect the homeowners as well as the renters, the people driving as well as the people taking transit? There I am less sure, but I’m also not sure the other candidates are better (Bass certainly isn’t).

When I searched to find out who was endorsing Raman, an attack site came up. Mostly, it just highlighted the negatives that Google AI pointed out: (1) Voted over 75 times to allow homeless encampments near schools, day cares and other sensitive locations; (2) Voted to eliminate thousands of local police officers; (3) Supports raising taxes on seniors and homeowners; (4) Supports taxpayer-funded government-owned public housing in any neighborhood with no special city permission. What I was more curious about was: Who was funding the attack? And the answer came at the bottom: “Major Funders: Los Angeles Police Protective League in the amount of $577,350, Douglas Emmett Properties, LP in the amount of $225,000, Jerry Greenberg”. It is clear that the LAPD officers don’t like Raman, likely because she wants to cut back on LAPD, and Douglas Emmett is no surprise because of her support of tenants. I’m not sure who Jerry Greenberg is. Doing further search to find Raman’s position on public safety uncovers loads and loads of attack articles from the LAPPL against Raman. According to Raman on Instagram, the LAPPL is spending hundreds of thousand of dollars against her. Well, looking at the website I found, it is over a half-million against her. Why? Because she voted against the police contract that spent more money on the police than the city could afford.

The attack website highlights an interesting point: For all of her policies related to the homeless and the downtrodden, and for all of her policies about bringing business back to Los Angeles, she has no policy related to public safety. What is her plan to reform and correct the deficiencies at the LAPD? What is her plan to reduce crime in the city, and to make the streets safer? How would she be fighting back against ICE, and preventing the excesses we have seen from the LAPD officers supporting ICE? How would she restore the image of the LAPD to what it was in the “Adam 12” era?

So I did some searching. Although at one time she was in the “Defund the Police” camp, she is now saying “We need to maintain the size of our police force and grapple with the fact that even the size of our existing police force is not enough to respond to 911 calls in a timely fashion”. In her first council campaign, she advocated for the LAPD to be transformed into a “much smaller, specialized armed force,” with responsibility for traffic enforcement, car crashes and nonviolent mental health crises shifted to other agencies. That’s actually a reasonable notion. Her council website notes that she has invested in the CIRCLE program. CIRCLE stands for Crisis and Incident Response through Community-Led Engagement, and it serves as an alternative response to nonviolent incidents, including those involving people experiencing homelessness. If someone needs a wellbeing check or is causing a nonviolent disturbance, the CIRCLE Team can arrive quickly and help manage the situation. In the year since in January 2022, the CIRCLE program responded to 4,479 diverted calls from 911 or the LAPD non-emergency line, along with thousands more incidents encountered in the field.

Additionally, in her first year in office, Councilmember Raman introduced a motion to improve the City’s framework for hate incident and hate crime reporting and data collection. Also, in October 2022, Council adopted a motion introduced by Councilmember Raman to develop a multi-year plan to fully shift responsibility for nonviolent calls to unarmed civilians rather than armed officers, and to implement alternative models and methods for traffic safety enforcement that do not rely on armed law enforcement.

Similarly, she does not have plans related to LA Fire. She does not talk on her website about the Palisades and how Fire Recovery would be addressed. She does not address how she would harden the city against future fires or other climate disasters?

I read through her interview with Larry Mantle. She does talk about law enforcement in that interview, but mostly in their relationship to ICE and whether she would retain the Chief of Police. Nothing about reducing crime.

She has an endorsement list on her website. Google AI indicates that key endorsements and support for Nithya Raman’s 2026 mayoral campaign include organizations such as Streets for All, Urban Environmentalists, and the Housing Action Coalition (HAC); writers, producers, and other professionals in the Los Angeles entertainment industry; the pro-housing “YIMBY” (Yes in My Backyard) movement. She has the DSA endorsement. She has entertainment industry support. She has a fair number of unions and very progressive organizations.

As she is endorsed by the DSA, and not by any Jewish organization, I was curious her position regarding Israel, the Palestinians, and antisemitism in the city. According to KTLA, she agreed with the “opinion that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza.” According to the article «Raman was endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, which censured her in 2024 for accepting the endorsement of Democrats for Israel-Los Angeles, a Zionist group. When asked about her decision to accept the endorsement, Raman told Piker in May, “I wouldn’t seek it out now.”» Fox News LA noted: «when asked where she differed from the anti-Israel positions of the Democratic Socialists of America, whose Los Angeles chapter has endorsed her mayoral campaign, Raman defended the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, as “a legitimate form of peaceful protest” before arguing that Israel-related issues were not part of her municipal platform and pointing to disagreements she has had with DSA on other issues.» NBC 4 reported that “Raman had also said that she believes Israel has a right to exist” and that “Raman maintained she has spoken up against antisemitism, against language that she found to be hateful, and rhetoric that has been deeply hurtful to the Jewish community when it happened to her district or citywide. “

📋 Conclusion

During the primary, there were a lot of candidates and a lot of investigation. This primary was clearly an election cycle where “perfect is the enemy of good enough” is the motto. We need to pick the best of what we’ve got. Moving into the General Election, the decision has changed a bit. The decision now is between an older experienced mainstream candidate (Bass), and a younger upstart who wants to shake things up with a very progressive agenda (Raman). I think where you fall on the spectrum between mainstream and shake-it-up really dictates where you will fall in the LA Mayor’s election.

While researching Raman I was growing to like her, until I ran into her lack of positions on public safety and wildfire response. I then researched Bass, and found out that she had done a lot more than I had known. Yup, she screwed up on the wildfire response, but I’m also not sure that her presence would have done more, or that even a perfect Fire Department could have done more. She has a much better handle on public safety than Raman, and I think she’s taken the lessons from the wildfires to heart. She’s also making progress in other areas, such as housing, the homeless situation, infrastructure, and transportation. She’s not as transformational as Tom Bradley, but she is making progress. She does suffer from the common problem of LA Mayors: She ignores the San Fernando Valley. We get promises, but the focus remains on the S side of the Santa Monica Mountains.

I’m also troubled by Raman and the strong DSA ties. I have no problem with the mainstream DSA positions regarding healthcare, economics, and societal progressivism. I think that in some cases they are going to run into economic headwinds due to the size of the deficit. But where I do have a problem is with the DSAs seeming condemnation of anything to do with Israel, and their support of anything Palestinian. For example, they have not come out and condemned Hamas or acknowledge the role of the Arabic nations is what is happening in the Middle East. Raman comes across as supportive of that position, although not strongly as she is a politician. Raman has some good ideas, but her support of the Jewish community comes off as a bit off, and she is missing good concrete plans on public safety and wildfires. The attacks from the LAPPL don’t help.

As I said before: This is a battle between mainstream and “shake-em-up”. The younger folk and strong progressives are in the “shake-em-up” camp: They want their progressive goals, and they want them NOW. They are much more concerned about the downtrodden Palestinian people, and don’t understand the history and connection that got us to this point, nor do they see the connection between their anti-Zionism and the rising tide of antisemitism. Mainstream folks know that our current process is slow, but it is moving in the progressive direction. But often, it is two steps forward and one step back. If you move too fast, before all of society is ready, and you reach a roadblock. Worse, you might trigger a backlash (as we saw with Trump) that moves things strongly to the right.

I am clearly a mainstream moderate. I believe in the progressive goals, but I believe in Israel’s right to exist just as any other nation. Bass is clearly mainstream and in alignment with my values for the city. Investigating Raman vs Bass led me to the conclusion that Bass deserves a second term. She’s not perfect, but she’s good enough and is making progress.

Conclusion: ⚫ Karen Bass (NP/Leans 🐴) ⭐INC

◊

City Attorney

According to the city, as the City’s general counsel, the City Attorney provides advice and opinions on matters of municipal concern, examines contracts and ordinances as to form and legality, and is frequently called upon to interpret the City Charter, federal and state statutes, and other laws that govern Los Angeles. As the City’s chief prosecutor, the City Attorney prosecutes all misdemeanor criminal offenses and infractions occurring in the City of Los Angeles. The City Attorney works closely with local law enforcement agencies to prosecute crimes through the Criminal Branches of the City Attorney’s Office located throughout Los Angeles. The City Attorney’s Office is also a resource for victims and witnesses of crimes, and provides a network of referral services as well as crisis intervention and support. Additionally, the City Attorney administers a number of citywide crime prevention initiatives focused on preserving the quality of life throughout Los Angeles’ neighborhoods. The City Attorney litigates all civil actions on behalf of the City and represents the City, its boards and officers in all civil trials and legal proceedings, in both state and federal court. The City Attorney advocates for the benefit of the City before the United States Congress and the State Legislature and represents the City in proceedings before the State Public Utilities Commission, the Federal Maritime Board, and other federal and state administrative bodies and committees when the City is an interested party.

In order to assess whether to support the incumbent or not, I asked Google AI for a summary of the incumbent’s negatives. These were the Key Controversies and Criticisms that Gemini identified: (ref)

• Massive Data Breach & Loss of Police Endorsement: In April 2026, her office disclosed that it had inadvertently leaked 7.7 terabytes of data. This included thousands of confidential LAPD disciplinary records. The breach occurred because the files were placed on a non-password-protected file-sharing system. Critics and council members lambasted her for waiting weeks to disclose the breach. Consequently, the Los Angeles Police Protective League rescinded its endorsement of her 2026 re-election campaign.
• Skid Row Housing Trust Receivership: In 2023, Feldstein Soto recommended Mark Adams as the receiver to manage the Skid Row Housing Trust. Months later, she admitted it was a mistake after Adams failed to make progress on safety problems and wrongfully threatened hundreds of vulnerable tenants with eviction. It was later revealed by the Los Angeles Times that Adams had hosted a campaign fundraiser for her.
• Staff Whistleblower Claims & Workplace Environment: Multiple former employees filed retaliation claims against her. One high-ranking former prosecutor alleged that Feldstein Soto demanded a case dismissal because the defendant was represented by a maximum campaign donor. Other employees have accused her of reading staff emails without consent and creating a “climate of fear” in the office.
• Targeting Journalists and the Public Records Act: Feldstein Soto drew harsh criticism from press freedom advocates after her office sued a journalist and an advocacy group to force the return of LAPD officer photos that the city had originally legally provided under a public records request. She was also criticized for attempting to lobby state legislators to weaken the California Public Records Act in response to the error.
• Soaring Legal Payouts: Critics and political opponents have pointed to a massive surge in liability payments by the city. Her office took a highly combative stance against plaintiffs rather than settling. Opponents argue this forced cases to trial that ultimately yielded massive jury verdicts against the city.
• Pro-Palestinian Bias Allegations: In 2025, a judge found some evidence of “biased prosecution” by her office regarding its aggressive stance in charging pro-Palestinian protesters who blocked traffic, noting that such prosecutions are historically rare in Los Angeles.
• Opposition to Affordable Housing: She faced backlash and lawsuits from housing advocates for instructing city agencies not to interact with developers regarding a previously approved 140-unit affordable housing complex in Venice.

This is a fair set of negatives. The potential replacements need to address these concerns and indicate how they would prevent them. For me, the big one is the data breach, but they all are reasonable concerns.

Useful References:

• LA Public Press: “Who is running for LA City Attorney?“
• LA Times: “Your guide to the L.A. city attorney’s race: three against Hydee Feldstein Soto“

◯ John McKinney (NP/Leans 🐴🐘)

McKinney has worked as a prosecutor for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office for nearly 30 years. McKinney said that he has tried nearly 40 murder cases, including the man who shot and killed Nipsey Hussle. He currently heads up the office’s bureau of specialized prosecutions, overseeing cases from gang homicide to sex crimes to the office’s entire juvenile division. According to his About page, he did his undergraduate at Rutgers and got his law degree at the UCLA School of Law. He was admitted to the bar in 1998; his license is #194455. He ran for District Attorney in 2024. After he failed to get past the primary, he endorsed Nathan Hochman.

His top three priorities as city attorney are public safety, fiscal responsibility, and  rooting out fraud, waste, corruption, and abuse in the government. His issues page highlights the following issues: (1) Public Safety and Neighborhood Protection; (2) Reducing Lawsuits and Protecting Taxpayer Dollars; (3) Fiscal Responsibility and Modernizing the City Attorney’s Office; (4) Compassionate Accountability on Homelessness; (5) Fighting Corruption and Protecting the Public Trust; (6) Protecting Workers and Combating Exploitation; (7) Protecting the Environment and Public Health; (8) Protecting Renters While Respecting Property Rights; and (9) Connecting the City Attorney’s Office to the Community. This seems a relatively progressive agenda.

According to LA Public Press, McKinney has endorsements from former LA County District Attorneys Steve Cooley and Jackie Lacey. His website shows a fair number of other endorsements.

⚫ Marissa Roy (NP/Leans 🐴)

According to her LinkedIn profile, Roy is a Deputy Attorney General in the California Department of Justice, and a Lecturer in Law at USC. Previously, she was a staff attorney at the Public Rights Project for 2 years, and an Associate at O’Melveny & Myers LLP for 2 years. Roy worked for the City Attorney’s Office from 2017 until 2018 She was also a clerk for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. She has a Masters in Public Diplomacy from USC, and a JD from Yale Law School. She was admitted to the bar in 2017; her active license is #318773. She did studies in Rwanda to learn how law is implemented after Genocide. From that, she learned how important it is to take culture and people’s experiences into account when administering the law. Though Americans are often taught that the law is objective, Roy said Rwanda showed her that law is in fact always subjective, based on people’s gender, socioeconomic status and other factors.

Roy believes Feldstein-Soto “has failed us in so many ways.” She said Feldstein-Soto has missed opportunities to stand up to the Trump Administration, worked to block the construction of affordable housing, and prosecuted journalists and pro-Palestinian protesters. If elected, Roy said she would file more lawsuits to protect families, workers, and tenants, including through stronger enforcement of the city’s Tenant Anti-Harassment law, which has led to 13,000 complaints of tenant harassment. Roy said she would also do more to protect LA residents from Trump administration policies. Roy was part of a legal clinic that challenged Trump’s attacks on sanctuary cities, and when she later worked at O’Melveny & Myers LLP, where she was outside counsel for LA County, she penned briefs on more than a dozen legal cases challenging the first Trump Administration. (LAPP)

Her online platform addresses the following areas: (1) Protecting workers’ rights; (2) Protecting tenants’ rights; (3) Protecting the environment; (4) Protecting consumers; (5) Fighting Trump; (6) Addressing housing and homelessness; (7) Building community safety; and (8) Saving taxpayer dollars.

LA Public Press noted that Roy said she would also expand the City Attorney’s office public rights division, devoting more lawyers to  issues like workers’ rights, tenants’ rights, climate justice and litigation against the Trump administration. She said she wants to limit the use of outside counsel and negotiate a government rate if the city has to contract with an outside firm. As for the city’s liability payments, Roy said she would welcome an audit from the city controller, to help identify recurring issues and what it costs when they’re not fixed.

She has raised over $638,567 in campaign contributions, second only to Feldstein Soto.

She has a large number of endorsements, including a large number of unions and Democratic organizations. She has endorsements from LA City Council members Eunisses Hernandez and Ysabel Jurado, as well as LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath. She’s also endorsed by the California AG, and a number of significant elected officials.

📋 Conclusion

In evaluating the remaining candidates: McKinney’s light number of endorsements, plus the fact of who he does have endorsing him is problematic for me. Roy has some good plans and proposals, and has strong endorsements behind her.

Conclusion: ⚫ Marissa Roy (NP/Leans 🐴)

🗳️

Los Angeles Community College District

According to Google AI: The LACCD Board of Trustees governs the Los Angeles Community College District by setting policy, managing budgets, and providing oversight for the district’s nine colleges. Their core duties and responsibilities include:
(refs: LACC Student Trustee Orientation; Community College League California: Trustees; Academic Senate for California Community Colleges: Role of Boards of Trustees; LACCD: Governance, Constitution & Bylaws)

• Policy Making: Establish general directions, ethical parameters, and operational policies for the district’s programs and services.
• Fiscal Oversight: Oversee and approve the district budget, ensuring the responsible stewardship of taxpayer funds and financial sustainability.
• Chief Executive Officer Oversight: Hire, support, and evaluate the district chancellor or chief executive leader.
• Educational Mission: Ensure institutions fulfill their educational mission, meet local community needs, and maintain academic standards, accreditation, and student success.
• Personnel Decisions: Establish employment practices, salaries, and benefits for district employees in compliance with state laws.
• Community Advocacy: Build strong community linkages and advocate for institutional needs at local and state levels.

Trustees operate primarily in an oversight capacity and do not manage the day-to-day operations of individual campuses.

Board of Trustees, Seat № 2

Note that the LA Times has an interview with almost all the candidates for this seat.

⚫ Steve Veres (NP) ⭐INC

According to his LACCD bio, Steve Veres (FB) is the immediate past president of the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) Board Trustees. He has served as a Trustee since 2011, where he led efforts to improve graduation and transfer rates as well as workforce and career pathway programs. He led the adoption of the District’s Award-winning Clean Energy and Sustainability Program and has presided over nearly $4B in facility improvements at all 9 Colleges. Under Steve’s leadership, LACCD has built more LEED Certified/ Energy Efficient facilities than any other Community College District in the nation. He is an advocate of the District’s Racial Equity and Social Justice programs and led efforts to confront student transportation, student hunger, and student housing challenges.

Veres is also a chair of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. His bio there notes that Veres is the Public Member appointed by the Senate Rules Committee. Steve Veres has served as a Trustee of the Los Angeles Community College District since 2011. He has led efforts to improve graduation and transfer rates and workforce and career pathway programs. He led the adoption of the District’s Award-winning Clean Energy and Sustainability Program and has presided over nearly $4B in facility improvements at all nine Colleges. Under Steve’s leadership, LACCD has built more LEED Certified/ Energy Efficient facilities than any other Community College District in the nation. With over 20 years of public service in the San Fernando Valley, he worked as a teacher, college instructor, journalist, and news editor. He is the former mayor of the City of San Fernando. Steve has also worked for the California State Legislature for nearly 20 years. He is currently the Deputy Chief of Staff to Senator Maria Elena Durazo (D).

His campaign website indicates his top priorities are:

• • • Supporting Students From Enrollment to Completion: This involves identifying struggling students early and connect them with academic support, financial aid, counseling, and basic-needs resources; strengthening student support system so students can easily access enrollment, financial aid, counseling, academic advising, and transfer services when they need them; and measuring success by degrees and certificates earned and successful transfers, not enrollment alone.
    • Building Pathways From College to Careers: This involves expanding paid internships, apprenticeships, and career pathways; ensuring students have access to meaningful work experience and career connected learning; investing in hands-on career support, from resume preparation and interview coaching to networking and professional development; and advancing career pipelines and partnerships to create direct pathways from the classroom into good-paying careers.
    • College Affordability & Basic Needs: This includes continuing to work on expanding tuition-free education; working to develop affordable student housing; and strengthening access to food, transportation, childcare, and other basic-needs resources.
    • Accountability. This includes setting clear goals and measurable results across all nine colleges; maintaining transparency and accountability for district resources and investments; and reviewing what is working and ensure investments are delivering results for students and the communities we serve.

As Veres is an incumbent, I asked Google AI to summaries his strengths and weaknesses as a trustee. The engine identified the following strengths and achievements (+) and potential weaknesses (–):

• • • (+) Extensive Institutional Experience: Veres has served on the LACCD Board of Trustees since 2011, providing long-term stability and leadership, including roles as Board President and Vice President. His background also includes working as a teacher, college faculty member, and mayor of San Fernando.
    • (+) Track Record in Legislative & Environmental Policy: He has deep connections to state governance, having served as a legislative staff director and adviser to state leaders like Senator María Elena Durazo and former Senate Leader Kevin de León. He has used this expertise to advocate for environmental programs, such as securing funding for parks, the Clean Energy and Sustainability Program, and $4 billion in LEED-certified facility improvements across the district.
    • (+) Focus on Student Welfare and Equity: His policy priorities center heavily on racial equity, expanding paid internships, improving graduation/transfer rates, and addressing basic student needs such as food, housing insecurity, and transportation.
    • (–) Lack of Publicized Policy Criticisms: Official documentation and regional election questionnaires from platforms like the LACCD Trustee Profile or the Los Angeles Daily News do not list prominent drawbacks, formal censures, or major policy failures.
    • (–) Career Politician Perspective: While his decades of public service in municipal, state, and educational roles provide stability, voters seeking external, non-traditional reformers or outsiders to shake up the system might view his deep establishment ties and long 15-year tenure on the board as a continuation of the status quo rather than introducing fresh, independent perspectives.

He has a fair number of endorsements. These include Democratic clubs, labor organizations, and a number of elected officials including other trustees.

◯ Adriana Cabrera (NP)

Adriana Cabrera (FB) has a Bachelor of Arts in Chicana/o Studies, a Bachelor of Science in Political Science with an emphasis in Public Policy and Management, and a Master of Arts in Higher Education Administration from California State University, Northridge. For five years, she worked with CSUN’s Educational Opportunity Program Admissions Office, helping students and families navigate the college process. Her graduate research focused on first-generation Latino students through Critical Race Theory and Community Cultural Wealth. She founded Empowering Youth in South Central to expand college and career access for first-generation young people in my community; and brought college-access workshops into local high schools, helped connect students with resources, and worked to make higher education feel closer and more reachable. At Los Angeles Trade-Technical College, she also helped build support for immigrant students through the Dream Resource Center and organizing with Respect Immigrant Students’ Education. She has worked across college access, immigrant support, food justice, environmental health, neighborhood organizing, public policy, and government access. She was Project Coordinator for the City of Los Angeles Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, and served as President of the Central Alameda Neighborhood Council and as a Region 9 Budget Advocate for the City of Los Angeles. Previously, Cabrera ran for LA City Council District 9 in 2017 and lost.
(Sources: Campaign Website; Ballotpedia)

Her campaign website includes a statement of priorities. As the page is long, I asked Google AI to summarize the page. The app noted that her platform focuses on transforming the district’s $9.9 billion annual budget into a tool for community empowerment. Rejecting traditional “deficit mindsets,” her platform outlines four core pillars to invest in the inherent capital, multilingual fluency, and resiliency of Los Angeles students and neighborhoods. The primary pillar is to address basic needs & student dignity by developing a centralized “No Wrong Door” Student Services Model across all nine campuses to handle academic, financial, and basic needs in one place. It also introduces on-campus legal clinics for housing and immigration defense, alongside a Student Parent Success Plan to expand childcare access. The remaining pillars of Adriana Cabrera’s platform focus on economic development and local capital, environmental justice and climate-resilient campuses, and public access and democratic governance. The page indicates that ultimately her priorities are about building an LACCD where public dollars stay local, students learn their rights, graduates build businesses, workers are respected, labor has a voice, campuses are green and healthy, modern certificates prepare students for the future, and Los Angeles communities have a real seat at the table.

Her endorsement page doesn’t list any endorsements.

She has an interesting interview with the Pasadena Star News that covers her approach to the recent Canva cybersecurity attack and her thoughts on AI. Her cybersecurity approach seems a bit naïve, and her AI approach seems reasonable.

◯ Kristina Irwin (NP)

Her campaign website is very slight on her bio: “Kristina Irwin is a Los Angeles professional, businesswoman, and community advocate.” Digging around, I discovered a bit more. She was born in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (now Serbia). Irwin’s family immigrated from the former Yugoslavia when she was three years old, settling in Santa Monica and later Marina del Rey. Her father, a physician, and her grandparents shared firsthand stories of living under socialism, shaping her political worldview. She earned a high school diploma from Santa Monica High School. She earned a bachelor’s degree from California State University, Northridge in 2000. She is a UCLA Extension school alumnus in public relations and marketing. She has lived in multiple parts of the senate district, sent her children to local public schools, and experienced both the COVID-19 shutdowns and the devastation of the recent Pacific Palisades fire firsthand. According to the Whittier Daily News, she is currently a real estate agent and a notary.

In 2021, she ran for LA City Council District 5. She ran for the California State Senate (SD 24) in 2022 and 2026 and lost both times, although she made it past the primary in 2022. She ran for office as a Republican. Her Senate campaign priorities are interesting, as they potentially reflect on her LACCD priorities. In the 2026 primary, she indicated that she wants to return to what she calls “the three Rs — reading, writing and arithmetic” and opposes state graduation requirements that include diversity, equity, and inclusion coursework. She supports vocational programs, trade schools, and practical life skills classes to prepare students for careers beyond college. When she ran for City Council, she indicated that she supported police officers but would also support some changes to police training, such as on brutality. She is also concerned about mental health. Her Senate Campaign noted that she supports Proposition 36 and wants to see tougher enforcement on violent crime, more mental health and addiction treatment facilities, and an end to what she describes as “policies that put criminals before victims.” She says homelessness must be addressed with mandatory treatment for those who need it, not just housing.

Her campaign website lists the following priorities:

• • • Students First: Keeping the focus where it belongs: on student achievement, opportunity, and preparing graduates for meaningful careers.
    • Accountability: Making sure taxpayers and students can see how resources are being spent and that our colleges are operating responsibly.
    • Career & Workforce Opportunities: Strengthening pathways to good-paying careers in the skilled trades, technology, healthcare, business, and other fields essential to our region.
    • Safe & Supportive Campuses: Creating learning environments where students can focus on their education and faculty and staff can do their jobs effectively.
    • A Voice for Our Community: Bringing a practical, independent perspective to the Board and listening to students, parents, faculty, staff, employers, and taxpayers.

The Whittier Daily News asked her about cybersecurity and AI. Her answers indicated a lack of understanding of the subjects.

She lists a small number of endorsements in a painfully slow running scroll. I asked AI to summarize them. The app noted that she has received endorsements from several prominent individual leaders, civic organizations, and community advocacy groups. This included the Israeli-American Civic Action Network (ICAN), California Parents United, and the California Parents Union. The former is a group that focuses on parental rights, and the latter is a group that supports parental rights and school choice. Thrive Los Angeles has endorsed both the incumbent, Veres, as well as Irwin. But Thrive LA’s voter guide has the interesting statement “designed to help Los Angeles voters identify and vote against extremist candidates backed by ideological special interests, including the Democratic Socialist of America (DSA).” Thrive LA appears to be more of a moderate group; they do endorse Democratic candidates.

◯ Roy Payan (NP)

According to his Lusk Center for Real Estate at USC bio, Roy Payan is a Public Policy expert in Disability Rights, housing and land use issues and has been Vice President of Northeast Los Angeles – Save Our Undeveloped Lands (NELA SOUL for the last two years, where he balances preserving open land spaces and wildlife corridors while addressing housing needs. Prior to forming NELA – SOUL, Roy Payan served as President of the Montecito Heights Improvement Association for 14 years since 2007, where he reviewed development proposals, housing construction fill-ins, oversaw the Planning and Land-use Committee for adherence to the planning and building codes. Roy was also instrumental in obtaining LA County funds to acquire open land spaces for the purpose of converting into public parks as well as implementing rain water reclamation projects and helping to write the Northeast Los Angeles Hillside Ordinance. More recently, Roy Payan has worked on a program analysis of the county’s Los Angeles Homeless Shelter Authority to review program misuse and policy failures. Roy earned his BA in Rehabilitation Services with a minor in Public Administration at Cal State Los Angeles and his Masters from the USC Price School of Public Policy.

He has been blind since his early 1940s, and is an advocate for disability rights. He sued the LACCD in the past and lost. Payan and Portia Mason, two blind individuals who enrolled as students in Los Angeles City College, registered as students with disabilities with LACC’s Office of Special Services and were approved for accommodations, set to start in the Spring 2016 semester. Payan’s accommodations included tape-recorded lectures, preferential seating, and access to electronic text materials. Mason’s accommodations included recorded lectures, preferential seating, access to electronic text materials, and test-taking accommodations. Payan and Mason also both use Jobs Access With Speech (“JAWS”) screen-reading software, which reads electronic text to them. Despite their approved accommodations, Payan and Mason encountered several issues accessing the materials needed for their studies, and in March 2017, the plaintiffs sued LACCD under Title II of the ADA, 42 U.S.C. § 12132, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. After the district court determined LACCD’s liability, it held a jury trial in June 2019 to decide the question of whether LACCD was deliberately indifferent in violating the rights of Payan and Mason, thereby entitling the plaintiffs to damages. The jury awarded $40,000 in damages to Payan and $0 to Mason. Following the jury trial, the district court also issued a permanent injunction. There was then an appeal and a second trail. Here are the case details. On March 11, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in Payan v. Los Angeles Community College District, ordered the trial court to reinstate a jury verdict awarding $242,500 in damages to two blind students who experienced disability discrimination while enrolled at Los Angeles City College, part of the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD). The decision confirms that individuals with disabilities can recover significant compensatory damages for lost opportunities caused by discrimination—even where emotional distress damages are unavailable. This verdict is summarized here.

This case is likely the reason Payan is running. The LA Times article on the case in 2021 noted that “LACCD — in a strategy that has outraged disability rights activists and students who are disabled — had not conceded defeat as its board of trustees neared a deadline to decide whether to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.” The district argues that because it did not intentionally discriminate against the two students, it did not break federal laws that protect people with disabilities. This likely has spurred Payan to run to get the LACCD to change attitudes.

I say “likely”, because Payan doesn’t appear to have a campaign website, only his personal LinkedIn. That sites notes the focus on disability rights: “At this point in time when seven states are seeking to completely undo Title II Section 504 and the ADA, how pernicious is it that they are trying to disregard the rights of millions of Disabled Americans. I feel it’s apparent we must show up at the voting polls and make them pay for it. if not, the my asthma of this day will stay with us for decades to come.”

Payan didn’t give answers to the LA Times. Given they indicated that one candidate had suspended their campaign, Payan is likely that candidate.

◯ Robert Payne (NP)

Robert Payne doesn’t seem to have a concise bio online. His college education started at LA Valley College. He transferred to and graduated from California State University, Northridge (CSUN) where he earned a Bachelors Degree, went on to get a Masters Degree from CSUN. While working in high schools later in life, he attended special education classes in the evenings to better understand student learning modalities and support troubled youth. He has built a career as a writer, publishing novels and researching and writing patents. He has also worked internationally across multiple languages, managing labor forces and navigating negotiations with government officials. He has also worked as a university instructor.

Payne seems to be a regular candidate for LACCD Board. He ran in 2022, and again in 2024. In my 2024 analysis, when he ran for Seat 7, I wrote:

Back in 2022, when he ran for Seat 6, I wrote: “Payne is a writer/educator. His campaign website makes some interesting accusations, including associations between Buelna and Trump. However, that doesn’t agree with the large amount of union and Democratic support for Buelna. In fact, Buelna seems to be anti-Trump [and in a response to that ballot analysis, Payne made clear he was anti-Trump as well]. So what is the explanation of Payne’s website material. It’s there in the little “*”: Buelna paid to be on most of those mailers, in an effort to reach out to Latino voters who often vote GOP (and voters who respond to mailers often fail to do any other investigation into their candidates). For many of these organizations, money talks louder than political positions. The sense I get reading Payne’s website is that he has a grudge. Why? It’s the wording and the style of the website. Phrases like “corrupted by the faculty political regime” are inciteful rhetoric. I want to see a serious website that proposes ideas, and shows the candidates background—not something that just rails against the other guy. It’s also telling that he’s not a strong enough progressive for Knock LA to come out for him.”

His campaign website, which he hasn’t updated since his 2022 run, also highlights Republican support for the incumbent for this seat, Stephen Veres. However, extensive searching did not indicate that Veres was Republican. Certainly, in 2026, Veres does not have a Republican endorsement. I asked Gemini AI to do a detailed search on this. It noted that Veres has a long history as a registered Democrat and is explicitly endorsed by democratic organizations. He has explicitly self-identified as a “Pragmatic Democrat”. Professionally, Veres works as a political adviser to Democratic California State Senator María Elena Durazo and has previously staffed other prominent local Democratic politicians, including Kevin de León. So, at least in 2022, Payne seemed to be reaching in his campaign accusations.

Moving beyond the past, the Daily Breeze did an interview with him for this campaign. The LA Times also interviewed him. The Times interview noted that Payne wants to make community colleges “cheaper, faster, better” in part by offering students more training for specific jobs and less expensive online textbooks. He also would support ending student debt. Payne cited low enrollment growth as the main challenge. Students also need to see a quicker return on their investment. The DB interview echoed this. When asked his top priorities, he noted that they were enrollment and student perceptions of value. Some students need to earn money to stay in college. They need to pay their expenses — or demonstrate to their parents that the cost and time invested in college will be rewarded. Onrushing technology will cancel many jobs and offer many opportunities. The colleges must respond to technology in learning and in employment.

Robert Payne does not appear to have any major organizational, institutional, or political endorsements recorded for his campaign.

📋 Conclusion

After looking into and researching all of the candidates, I’m most impressed with the incumbent, Stephen Veres. None of the other candidates give a compelling reason why he needs to be replaced, other than the implied fact he might be stretched a little thin with all of his other work. Payan seems to have withdrawn. Payne doesn’t seem to be a serious candidate. Irwin is interesting, but her strong support of parental rights and her opposition to DEI efforts make her a bad candidate for a diverse community college district that heavily serves minorities.

That leaves Veres and Cabrera. Cabrera is interesting, and would be the strongest candidate IF Veres wasn’t there. But Veres’ experience and demonstrated success puts him in the lead position.

Conclusion: ⚫ Steve Veres (NP) ⭐INC

◊

Board of Trustees, Seat № 4

The LA Times has an interview with most of the candidates for this seat.

◯ Elaine Alaniz (NP)

According to Ballotpedia, Elaine Alaniz was born in Weslaco, Texas, and was raised in Houston, Texas. She moved to Los Angeles, California, in 2003. Alaniz earned an associate degree from Los Angeles City College in 2018 and associate degrees from Los Angeles Valley College in 2020, 2021, and 2022. Her career experience includes working as a healthcare workforce specialist, public affairs specialist, and recruiter. She has served as president and treasurer on the City of Los Angeles Westlake North Neighborhood Council. Alaniz has been affiliated with SAG-AFTRA, the California Republican Party, the GOP presidential delegation, the Los Angeles County Republican 54^th District Central Committee, EmpowerLA, L.A. REPAIR participatory budgeting board of advisors, and the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office Crisis Response Team.

She ran in the primary for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors District 1 seat, and lost, coming in second with around 13% of the vote. She ran for Los Angeles Community College Board of Trustees Seat № 5 in 2024 and for California State Assembly District 54 in 2024. She was a write-in candidate for Los Angeles City Council District 1 in 2022. When she ran for LACCD in 2024, I didn’t have much to say: “Alaniz (Republican) ran for state assembly, and seemingly lost.”

According to the LA Times interview, she wants the district to do more to ensure students are ready for the workforce. Other priorities would be more flexible class schedules and online courses for working adults and parents, and “expanding digital access to required course materials and coursework at little or no additional cost to students wherever feasible.” In her Daily News interview, she gives very strong answers with respect to cybersecurity.

In the DN interview, she also covers what she sees as the greatest needs of the LACCD: “The two greatest needs are helping students stay on track to complete their education and making sure that education leads somewhere.” But she then goes on to state a different second need: “The second need is a stronger connection between education and employment.”

Her endorsements are shown as “Coming soon”. In past runs for County Supervisor, she had the endorsement of the California Republican Party, the GOP Presidential Delegation, and the LA County Republican 54th District Central Committee. When she ran for LACCD in 2024, she received endorsements from several conservative and advocacy organizations, including the Apartment Owners Association of California, Inc., the California Rifle and Pistol Association, Reform California (Carl DeMaio’s very conservative group), The Morning Answer (with Jennifer Horn), April’s Common Sense Cali Voters / April’s Ballot, and Restoring the California Dream (Craig Huey’s conservative voter guide, which awarded her a 5-star endorsement).

◯ Isidro Armenta (NP)

Armenta lists his occupation on the ballot as a “Fire Department employee”. But according to his LinkedIn, which has the same photo as his campaign Facebook, he has much more extensive experience. His LInkedIn “About” reads: “Experienced Public Affairs and Marketing Communications executive management professional with demonstrated history of working at the intersection of the public, philanthropic, and private sectors. Skilled in navigating the Los Angeles education and nonprofit ecosystems, crisis communications, public policy development and analysis, budgets, strategic planning, and community engagement.”  Summarizing what is on LinkedIn gives the following: extensive experience spanning over 15 years across public education, community advocacy, and government sectors. His career demonstrates a strong focus on communications, project management, and supporting vulnerable communities in Los Angeles. He managed recruitment, engagement, and communications strategy at Ednovate Inc., served as  (2018–2022): Managed recruitment, engagement, and communications strategy for the organization. He served as Director of Communications and Community Affairs Deputy within the Office of the LAUSD Board of Education President, he worked as a Caseworker in a Los Angeles District Office for a US Representative; and has had roles with the U.S. Census Bureau, Bienvenidos Children’s Center , and Hillsides. He ran as a Democrat for the California State Senate in 2014.

Note that none of this includes the Fire Department, so it is unclear what his current role with the LAFD is. He does seem to do posts for the LA County Fire Department.

He doesn’t appear to have a formal campaign website, and he didn’t answer the LA Times interview questions. From his FB pages, he feels that one of the best ways to increase community college transfer success rates is to give community college students similar housing opportunities as those attending 4-year universities.  Lorem Ipsum Dolor

◯ Jason Aula (NP)

His campaign website (FB) (if you can quite call it that) has an interesting combo-bio and position statement: “I am running to be your Los Angeles Community College District Trustee. I pledge to increase each campus’s degree value, through a corruption free and fiscally accountable Los Angeles Community College District and create jobs with NCAA football expansion at LA Trade Tech & LA City College. I am a journalist and serve as ownership of multiple businesses. I am a prominent Long Beach State University alumnus where I campaigned hard to bring back the Division 1A NCAA football team and was a member of the rugby team as a student. I pledge to create jobs, increase the value of LACCD degrees earned, and a student & constituent-friendly Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD).”

Aulu has run for LACCD Trustee before, both in 2022 and 2024. In my 2024 Deep Dive, I wrote:

Jason last ran in 2022, when I wrote: Reading through his web pages, this fellow is all over the place. He states on his “Meet the Candidate” page: “a journalist and serve as ownership of multiple businesses. I am a prominent Long Beach State University alumnus where I campaigned hard to bring back the Division 1A NCAA football team and was a member of the rugby team as a student.” Really, “serve as ownership”? But NCAA football is a big thing to him. He wanted to bring it to Long Beach State, as well as Cal State Northridge and now LA City College and LA Trade Tech. Politically, he sounds like a Republican (“I believe in small government, free enterprise and individual liberty. My political beliefs are guided by the United States Constitution.”), but his other positions sound more progressive. He seems to be looking for a stepping stone into politics, having explored running for State Senate back in 2021. My gut tells me that’s his main goal. His positions related to the LACCD seem to be few: Bringing back football, keeping the Sheriff’s department on campus, and doing audits.

In 2024, he ran for state assembly, where the headline on his webpage was: “Announcement of a new A.S. ballot measure campaign to reinstate NCAA football at Cal State Northridge with an on campus stadium”

According to the Blue voter page: “Republican, anti-choice, Trump supporter“

He did respond to the LA Times interview. He indicated his priorities were “Aula wanted to address the basic needs of students “in the interests of U.S.A citizens.” He would “increase the diversity of curriculum” to “authentically represent the United States of America citizens and interests.” He would include “protecting athletics funding, football in particular, making new partnerships with Navy to serve the district’s needs, and growing the partnership with law enforcement.”” The interview also noted “Aula said he would make financial deals only “that are in the interests or benefits of U.S.A. citizens.””

Then there was the OMG statement in the LA Times interview: “The Times declined to publish much of Aula’s written questionnaire responses, which contained comments, proposals and unsubstantiated accusations dealing with suspected terrorists, the Chinese Communist Party, the Palestinian militant group Hamas and cannibalism.”

The Nile1 website (some sort of independent news organization) noted that Aula “drew editorial scrutiny for unsubstantiated claims about financial fraud and proposals to restrict noncitizen enrollment. Election officials confirm he remains on the ballot; however, his positions diverge sharply from state law prohibiting discrimination based on immigration status in public higher education.”

Next. This candidate seems to be seriously, to use a technical term, “off his rocker”.

◯ Adam Bruno (NP)

According to the Expert Witness Directory (yes, that’s where I found the bio), Dr. Adam Bruno is a licensed educational psychologist in California and a licensed marriage and family therapist in California and Nevada. He has been working in the mental health field since 2006. Dr. Bruno specializes in the evaluation and treatment of both children and adults with autism, ADHD, trauma, intellectual disability, parental alienation, and other psychological disorders. Dr. Bruno currently has a private practice in Los Angeles where he provides services to children and adults online and in his office. He also provides services to children in schools. Dr. Bruno has given multiple trainings on disabilities, the IEP process, and provision of services to both providers and parents of children with disabilities. He is currently on the advisory board at Special Needs Network. As an expert witness, Dr. Bruno has multiple areas of expertise and has taken cases in multiple states. He is able to work both virtually and in person, and can conduct psychological, educational, and custody reviews and evaluations.

According to the LA Times, his top three priorities are to increase enrollment, increase accessibility to education for students and help educators feel appropriately supported and compensated. He said he’d explore student stipends as a way to enable more people to attend community college successfully. He would also look for additional funding sources through donations and other measures and attempt to use the extra revenue to address financial needs of students. He also did a Daily News interview, where he noted that “Community college is both a vital tool for education in its own right and an effective, affordable link to four-year universities. Anyone can use it, but keeping prices low is a great way to ensure accessibility for those of lower socioeconomic status, which can afford them greatly increased opportunities.” He also wanted to look into resources that can provide food and housing support. He is also looking into accessibility of tuition, environmental conservation, and how to protect students against ICE raids. In his Nile1 comments, he emphasizes psychological safety and financial stipends to reduce dropout rates among vulnerable populations. He identifies intimidation and lack of awareness as hidden enrollment barriers, especially for neurodivergent learners and adult returnees. While less specific on fiscal mechanisms, his candidacy highlights mental health service gaps that widened during remote instruction periods and have not fully recovered despite increased counseling hires.

He doesn’t appear to have a campaign website, and doesn’t list any endorsements. According to Ballotpedia, there are no major organization, political party, or publication endorsements publicly on record for Adam Bruno in his race for the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) Board of Trustees, Seat № 4.

⚫ Darryn Harris (NP)

Darryn Harris has a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Sociology – Loyola Marymount University (LMU). He has a Master of Education (M.Ed.) in Higher Education and Organizational Change / Student Affairs from UCLA. Harris grew up in a working-class family in Los Angeles. His personal connection to community colleges began with his mother, who received workforce training at Los Angeles Southwest College before becoming a nurse. He credits higher education with changing his family’s trajectory, which inspired his career in public service. As a child, witnessing the rebuilding efforts in South LA after the 1992 unrest shaped his commitment to grassroots community advocacy. Harris works as a government and community affairs officer for St. John’s Community Health and recently started teaching a class on student skills at Santa Monica College, which is not an LACCD campus. He also worked at UCLA and in the halls of Congress as an aide to U.S. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Los Angeles) and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, when she served in the House of Representatives.

According to the LA Times, Harris wants to tackle the affordability crisis blocking student achievement by building more low-cost housing on district land and making it “easier for students to get help with food, transportation, child care, and other basic needs.” Harris also wants to boost student success through better counseling, transfer support and career training, including partnerships with employers and labor. In his Daily Breeze interview, he noted that the two biggest needs facing LACCD are helping more students finish college and making college more affordable. He feels that getting students enrolled is not enough. He thinks that we need to help them finish, and that every student should have a clear path to a degree, transfer to a four-year college, an apprenticeship, or a good-paying job. In his eyes, that means better counseling, tutoring, career training, and stronger partnerships with employers, unions, and local industries. He also notes the cost of education and living in Los Angeles. He notes that students should not have to drop out because they cannot afford rent, food, or transportation. He supports using LACCD’s resources wisely, including appropriate district-owned land, to help address housing and other basic needs. His Nile1 statement indicates that he approaches the seat through a policy and government affairs lens rather than traditional academia. A staffer for U.S. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove and former aide to Mayor Karen Bass, he teaches student success skills at Santa Monica College but has no direct employment history within LACCD. His signature proposal involves developing affordable housing on underutilized district land—a strategy gaining traction statewide after the passage of AB 1533 allows community colleges to lease property for below-market residential units without voter approval. Harris also emphasizes streamlining access to food pantries, childcare subsidies, and transportation assistance, arguing that academic interventions fail when basic survival needs go unmet.

He has endorsements from the Los Angeles County, Calif., Democratic Party, Democratic Municipal Officials, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 11. His website lists a lot more endorsements, including faculty and staff groups, unions, Democratic organizations, loads of elected leaders, other LACCD trustees, and lots of education leaders.

◯ Nancy Pearlman (NP)

According to Perlman’s website (FB), Pearlman is an award-winning broadcaster, environmentalist, college educator, anthropologist, editor, educator, producer, on-air personality, and outdoorswoman who has made safeguarding the earth’s ecosystems a career. She founded the Ecology Center of Southern California and Compendium Newsletter in 1972, Project Ecotourism in 1993, Humanity and the Planet in 2001, Earth Cultures in 2004, and Nancy Pearlman the Eco-Traveler in 2007. She is Trustee Emeritus with the Los Angeles Community College District, where she served four terms (sixteen years) as an elected Trustee for the Los Angeles Community College District where she led the efforts for all nine colleges to be sustainable, both in buildings and in operations. In the 1990s and from 2017 to 2020, Nancy taught Anthropology and Communications at Harbor College, West Los Angeles College, East Los Angeles College, City College, and Pierce College. At age 65, she climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak at 19,336 feet. Since 1999 Nancy has been a member of the Gypsy Folk Ensemble and still performs and teaches ethnic world dance. Since the 1980s she has served on the Board of Directors of the Universal Pantheist Society.

Pearlman has run for LACCD Trustee before: both in 2022 and 2024. In my 2024 Deep Dive, I wrote:

Back in 2022, when she was doing the special election for Seat 7, I wrote: “According to her campaign page, Pearlman is a broadcaster, environmentalist, college instructor, anthropologist, editor, producer, on-air personality, and outdoorswoman focused on environmental action. She served four terms as an elected official on the Board of Trustees of the Los Angeles Community College District. Knock LA notes in its endorsement of Iino, that Pearlman, an environmental activist and LACCD trustee between 2001 and 2017, was a vocal yet ineffective critic of the district’s failings during her 16 years on the board. The page for her campaign, off her “Official” website, is for her 2020 campaign, not her current campaign.  Her focus was really environmental, not the students. She’s also 74, and I think we need younger voices.”

This time, she’s endorsed by East Area Progressive Democrats, and she has updated her campaign page.

Edited to add: Nancy directly commented on this post. I can’t go back and change what I wrote in 2022. Based on her comments, however, I’ll note the following:  As I had noted, she has updated her campaign page for 2024, and does have student endorsements. She does appear  to be focused on providing sustainable green building programs, and working on academic standards to help students.  Those interested should read the comments.

This time, there is no question: She has updated her website for the 2026 campaign.

I also found that she ran way back in 2017. In another Deep Dive (one of my earlier ones), I wrote: “There are two candidates for this seat: Gabriel Buelna (FB) and Nancy Pearlman (FB). Pearlman is the incumbent, in her fourth term, running for a fifth. Buelna is a professor of Chicano Studies at CSUN. Pearlman had the LA Times endorsement in 2013. Pearlman is very involved in environmental causes, and coordinated the first Earth Day in 1970. Buelna’s page indicates he is campaigning for the students, and helping students achieve.” Note that we’ll see Buelan again; he’s running for Seat № 6 this year.

In her LA Times interview, she indicated that her priorities would be addressing the challenges the district faces and “keeping the chancellor and presidents accountable and working for the community college district mission,” which she described as the main responsibility of the board. She also said low enrollment is the biggest challenge, followed by ensuring students are given the necessary support and resources to succeed. She also cited the need make sure faculty receive equal pay and that the district’s construction program remains environmentally sustainable and within budget. Lastly, the LA Times interview noted that she indicated that excess spending must be stopped with analysis of how much administration makes versus faculty and staff. She supports campus efforts to create foundations for scholarships and lobbying Sacramento and Washington to keep funding, including student aid, at necessary levels.

Her Pasadena Star-News interview adds some more information. She sees the top two needs of the LACCD as a need to complete its major building program transparently and stay a leader in sustainability, and regular operations should be ecologically sound. She also thinks that, for student success, resources need to be made available. For the over 65% of faculty who are part-timers, they deserve equal pay. She believes that community colleges should be a pathway to four-year institutions and to provide both academic and technical training, as well as be a community resource for lifelong learners. In the LACCD, the Board of Trustees is not the authority on curriculum, which is handled by the nine colleges’ academic senates. In her Nile1 statement, she argues that administrative bloat has diverted resources from classrooms and pledges to audit salary disparities between management and faculty. She is centering her platform on accountability, environmental sustainability in construction projects, and direct student support—including personally purchasing textbooks for struggling learners during her teaching years. Pearlman’s candidacy represents continuity with an era when LACCD expanded physical infrastructure through bond measures, though critics note that past building programs contributed to current debt service obligations consuming general fund dollars.

Her website lists endorsements from the Americans for Democratic Action of Southern California and the Progressive Democrats of the Santa Monica Mountains. Google AI could find no additional endorsements, except those from her 2022 and 2024 campaigns.

◯ Priscilla Umana (NP)

Umana has a Bachelor’s Degree from Virginia Commonwealth University, 2006; and has taken additional courses at El Camino Community College in 2017. Originally from Stafford, Virginia, Umana moved to Los Angeles over 20 years ago. She works as an educational American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter across dozens of diverse schools throughout Los Angeles.

According to her Ballotpedia statement, she believes a student should never have to choose between putting food on the table, keeping a roof over their head, and pursuing an education. As a result, affordability is one of her biggest goals. As a trustee, pledges to work to make affordability and basic needs a priority throughout the Los Angeles Community College District. This means supporting the expansion of affordable student housing, food pantries, emergency assistance, transportation support, and other resources that help students remain in school and reach their educational goals. She also believes that quality education should be accessible to every student, regardless of disability, language, financial circumstances, or personal challenges. As a trustee, she indicates that she will work to identify and remove barriers that prevent students from enrolling, participating fully, and completing their education. Lastly, she believes that a strong college community is one where everyone feels they belong and has a voice in shaping their educational experience. She wants to help create welcoming campuses where students feel comfortable asking for support, faculty and staff feel valued, and everyone can work together toward student success.

In her LA Times interview, she also indicates that she would review the district’s budget to identify “opportunities to reduce waste while improving services.” This would include examining courses with low enrollment and deciding whether participation can be increased or if money should be redirected to where it’s more needed. She’d also work to raise additional revenue by “partnering with local businesses, nonprofits and entertainment organizations to host campus events, build community partnerships and share proceeds.” In her Niles1 statement, she indicates that she prioritizes removing linguistic and disability-related access barriers alongside housing and food security. She proposes leveraging campus spaces for revenue-generating events partnered with local nonprofits and entertainment entities—an idea that tests the boundary between public education mission and commercial activity. Her focus reflects growing recognition that compliance with federal disability mandates often outpaces actual inclusion practices, particularly for deaf and hard-of-hearing students navigating asynchronous online components added post-pandemic.

According to Google AI, official voter guides and campaign registries, including the L.A. Times Voter Guide and her Ballotpedia Profile, do not list any major organizational, institutional, or high-profile political endorsements for Priscilla Umana’s campaign for the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) Board of Trustees Seat 4.

📋 Conclusion

This seat is an interesting contest. Many of the candidates come across as non-serious. One or two are clearly kooks. There are a number of repeat candidates, continually throwing their candidacy on the wall to see if they can make the sauce right to stick. Of this bunch, there are only a handful that come across as worthy of consideration: Darryn Harris, Elaine Alaniz, and the perennial candidate,  Nancy Pearlman. The others just don’t seem to have the right experience with the LACCD, or they don’t have the commitment to the campaign. Of the three, Alaniz is problematic due to her endorsements and her repeated tries. Pearlman has a different problem. She clearly has the experience and has some good ideas. However, I fear she might be too old for the position (in general, we need to get younger folks into office, and I say that as someone who is of Medicare age). She’s also a repeat candidate, although she really has only campaigned for LACCD.

The most serious candidate is Darryn Harris. He has a serious professional website, and has good positions. He has a strong background. He has strong endorsements.

Conclusion: ⚫ Darryn Harris (NP)

◊

Board of Trustees, Seat № 6

⚫ Gabriel Buelna (NP) ⭐INC

According to his LACCD Bio, Gabriel Buelna graduated from California State University Northridge (CSUN) with a Bachelor’s degree before completing a master’s program in Social Work at San Diego State University. Dr. Buelna earned his Ph.D. from the School of Politics and Economics at the Claremont Graduate University. In 1999, Gabriel joined CSUN as a faculty member where he continues to teach history and politics in the Chicana/o Studies Department. In the early 90s, Gabriel began his career as a children’s social worker with the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services and went on to work in foster care. He worked with abused and neglected children, their families, law enforcement, and the courts. He also is an attorney and teaches history and political science at Cal State Northridge. He previously led Plaza Community Services, a nonprofit that provides education, health and other services to children and families. His Law Firm bio notes that he has a J.D. (Juris Doctor) from Glendale University College of Law; a PhD in Political Science from Claremont Graduate University; a MAPP (Masters in Public Policy) from Claremont Graduate University; an MSW from San Diego State University; and a BA in Chicana/o Studies from California State University Northridge. In addition to what is mentioned above, he is a Fellow in the Family Law Intensive Program (FLIP) at the Harriett Buhai Center for Family Law; a Member of the Mexican American Bar Association; and a Member of the National Association of Social Workers.

If Buelna’s name looks familiar, it is because he was mentioned in my discussion of Robert Payne for Seat № 2. Back in my 2024 analysis, I noted that Payne’s campaign website made some interesting accusations, including associations between Buelna and Trump. I noted that those accusations didn’t agree with the large amount of union and Democratic support for Buelna. In fact, Buelna seems to be anti-Trump [and in a response to that ballot analysis, Payne made clear he was anti-Trump as well]. So what is the explanation of Payne’s website material. It’s there in the little “*”: Buelna paid to be on most of those mailers, in an effort to reach out to Latino voters who often vote GOP (and voters who respond to mailers often fail to do any other investigation into their candidates). For many of these organizations, money talks louder than political positions.

According to the LA Times, Buelna’s priorities include addressing student affordability, better connecting education to economic opportunity and “removing barriers to access and completion.” He said the district needs to “move aggressively to implement” its commitment of up to $500 million for affordable student and staff housing and “strengthening food assistance, mental-health services and other basic-needs programs.” Buelna said the district also needs to expand career technical education and paid internships, while “strengthening transfer pathways for students seeking four-year degrees.” In addition, he wants to expand multilingual education and support for working adults and students with families while “protecting immigrant and undocumented students.” He indicated that he would continue to advocate for state and federal funds as well as community partnerships that bring additional resources to the colleges. He said the district also must scrutinize its own spending, including ensuring “major construction and capital projects are completed responsibly.” He feels that the LACCD needs to design their colleges around the students we actually serve rather than expecting students to adapt to unnecessary institutional barriers.

In his Daily Breeze interview, he indicated that the two greatest needs for the LACCD are making college more accessible and ensuring that education leads to real economic opportunity. He feels that too many students still face barriers that have little to do with their ability to succeed in the classroom. He believes the LACCD needs to address housing and basic needs while making college more accessible to working adults, first-generation students, immigrants and others balancing education with work and family. He also thinks that LACCD needs to ensure that education leads somewhere. That means strengthening career education, apprenticeships, paid internships and partnerships with labor and employers, while maintaining strong pathways to four-year universities. He noted that he championed AB 1096 to expand in-language education, and helped secure a historic commitment of up to $500 million for student and staff housing through Measure LA, and strengthened pathways connecting students to good-paying careers. He goal was simple: every student should leave our colleges with greater opportunity than when they arrived. He believes that community college shouldn’t dictate one definition of success. It should provide many pathways to it, whether that means transferring to a university, earning a degree or credential, learning a trade, or beginning a good-paying career.

He has a large number of endorsements, including labor unions, Democratic clubs, Democrats for Israel, elected officials, and a large number of faculty and staff members.

◯ Tonia Arey (NP)

In the 2026 primary, Arey ran for LA County Supervisor in the Third District. In the Primary Deep Dive, I wrote:

According to her LinkedIn profile, Tonia Arey is a real estate agent in Agoura, CA. She has a BS in Kinesiology from San Francisco State. It appears her primary reason for running was the response to the Malibu and Pacific Palisades wildfires: She believes Calabasas has been turned into a dumping ground for toxic and hazardous waste. She blames that on Supe Horvath. A lot of this comes from her active involvement in Protect Calabasas, a grassroots organization committed to preserving the health and safety of our neighborhoods.

Her website details her disputes with Horvath and why she feels Horvath is out of touch with the district. First, she’s upset that Lindsey Horvath endorsed George Gascon’s failed re-election campaign despite the fact that voters in District 3 went the other way by a roughly 60–40 margin. Second, she’s upset that Lindsey Horvath endorsed Marissa Roy, a hardline, DSA-aligned anti-prosecution candidate who believes in imposing a 100-day moratorium on the prosecution of misdemeanors, and has made repealing Los Angeles’s anti-encampment law a central part of her platform. This is primarily because of Marissa Roy’s alignment with the Democratic Socialists of America, a progressive group that has strong anti-zionist leanings (she does repeat the stronger MAGA opinion of DSA on her website — i.e., that they openly support Hamas and foment antisemitism on a daily basis and that Zohran Mamdani is an antisemite and a threat to Jews, but I beleive that’s an exaggeration).

In terms of issues, she has the following areas of emphasis: (1) Public Safety, in particular supporting law enforcement; (2) Fire Safety; (3) Environmental Safety; (4) Public Health; (5) Addressing Homelessness; (6) Combating Antisemitism; (7) Supporting Animal Shelters and Abuse Prevention; and (8) Supporting Small Business. I’ve read through her issues, and there’s a lot of emphasis on accountability and transparency. With respect to the homeless, she believes in mental health treatment first. She wants to protect Jewish institutions and educate about antisemitism. However, the sense I get reading her issues is that she’s got a very suburban view of the issues (which isn’t a surprise, as she’s from Calabasas and sells property in Agoura). She doesn’t get the broader urban issues that impact the county.

Her broader agenda is revealed through her endorsements. She’s endorsed by the California Republican Assembly and the LA County Republican Party. She’s endorsed by a lot of retired law enforcement and Israeli groups. She’s endorsed by the former Sheriff, who was kicked out for doing a bad job. For all of her push on antisemitism, however, she’s not endorsed by Jewish groups (likely, because Republican values clash with Jewish values, and Horvath has actually supported the Jewish community). She also has no major group endorsements, and no labor or current elected official endorsements.

Arey seems to be part of a trend: If you fail in the primary for Supervisor, you pivot to running for LACCD Trustee. We saw this with Elaine Alaniz as well.

In her LA Times interview, she indicated that the biggest challenges in her eyes facing the LACCD are campus safety, student success and career readiness, and accountability to students, employees, and taxpayers. She indicated that she would work to implement campus safety plans, support additional academic advising and career education and more “closely examine spending, contracts, program outcomes and administrative costs to ensure resources reach classrooms and directly support students.” She feels that although LACCD is a four-year term, there are no term limits and current trustees can no longer be trusted. She indicated that she would review the district’s budget to “identify waste, duplication and spending that does not directly improve student outcomes” and said “cost reductions should begin with unnecessary administrative expenses, not classroom instruction, campus safety, counseling or essential student services.” She would work to strengthen the competitive bidding process for contracts and work to ensure the district’s construction bond program is effectively managed. On the revenue side, she’d work to pursue government grants, raise money from donors and “explore responsible uses of underutilized district property.” She‘d also look at ways to boost enrollment, since state funding is tied to the number of students served. Lastly, she said she would work to make “enrollment simpler, faster, and easier to navigate” and do more to help students who enter the classroom. That includes flexible class offerings, basic needs assistance, robust counseling and the use of data to understand where students are falling through the cracks.

The impression I get from the Times interview dovetails with her run for Supervisor, where she had a strong Republican endorsement. There’s a whole threat of fiscal mistrust, that there is fraud and waste in government, and that there needs to be more accountability.

In her Daily News interview, she indicates that the district’s top two needs are safe campuses and stronger student outcomes. First, every student, faculty member and employee deserves to feel safe on campus. Safety cannot be treated as an afterthought. She indicated that she will push for a districtwide assessment of campus security, emergency communications, lighting and staffing, while ensuring employees have the training and resources necessary to respond to emergencies. Second, she also believes that LACCD must do a better job of helping students complete their education and enter careers that provide financial stability. Enrollment numbers and programs mean little if students leave without a degree, certificate or realistic path to employment. she indicated she will advocate for stronger partnerships with local employers, expanded career and technical education, and transparent reporting on graduation, transfer and job-placement outcomes. She believes her realtor experience gives her skills with budgets, contracts and accountability. She believes her role as a trustee would be to protect taxpayers, respect faculty and employees, listen to students and hold the district accountable for delivering an education that creates genuine opportunity.

She has a fair number of endorsements, mostly from Conservative political leaders.

◯ Roberto David Lacarra (NP)

Dr. Roberto David LaCarra is an American educator, attorney, and political candidate based in North Hollywood, California. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Loyola Marymount University; Four separate master’s degrees obtained from Mount Saint Mary’s University (MSMU), California State University, Northridge (CSUN), the University of California, Irvine (UCI), and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); a Ph.D. in an unspecified field; and a JD. Dr. LaCarra’s career spans public safety, community advocacy, and higher education. He served as a U.S. Congressional intern and later became Los Angeles County’s first repositioned probation officer dedicated specifically to gang reduction. In education, he has worked as a school counselor and currently teaches history and political science at California State University, Northridge (CSUN). He is also a Chicano Studies professor at Los Angeles Valley College. His policy advocacy centers on public safety, education, at-promise youth, and mental health services.

Dr. LaCarra ran as a Democratic candidate for California State Senate District 20. According to official election results from the June 2, 2026 primary, he did not advance to the general election, receiving 10.2% of the vote (10,664 votes).

He did not reply to the LA Times interview questions.

As of October 2026, Dr. Roberto David LaCarra has no publicly announced or official organizational endorsements for his campaign to the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) Board of Trustees, Seat No. 6. According to tracking data from local voter groups and campaign financial summaries, Dr. LaCarra has run a low-profile campaign without raising public funds or securing institutional backing. Furthermore, he did not submit responses to major civic candidate questionnaires.

His campaign website is from his Senate campaign and has not been updated.

◯ Randall Winston (NP)

Randall Winston served in the U.S. Army National Guard. Winston’s career experience includes working as a community college professor.  He has an extensive bio. Randall serves as Deputy Mayor of Infrastructure for the City of Los Angeles, where he leads Mayor Karen Bass’ infrastructure policy and alignment of public works and transportation investments. Previously, he was an attorney at O’Melveny & Myers where he represented government and environmental organizations facing complex litigation and state and federal investigations. Prior to his legal practice, Randall was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown to serve as Executive Director of the California Strategic Growth Council, a state agency integrating efforts to achieve the state’s climate and sustainable community goals. Under his leadership, SGC invested over $1.3 billion in transit-oriented affordable housing, land conservation, and capacity building in the most under-resourced communities throughout California. Randall also served as an advisor to Governor Jerry Brown, where he worked across state agencies to lead implementation of Executive Orders on green buildings and electric vehicles, including development of unprecedented regulations to reduce emissions from the building and transportation sectors. He also led the planning and execution of trade missions to China and Mexico, working with foreign government officials and businesses across the state to forge international trade and environmental agreements. Before serving in the Brown administration, Randall worked for Pritzker Prize-winning architect Norman Foster, collaborating with interdisciplinary teams on design, urban planning, and infrastructure projects throughout the world. He also spent two years working for urban development and architecture firms in Beijing, China. Randall served as an inaugural Policy Fellow at Elemental Excelerator, a nonprofit venture fund focused on scaling equitable, market-driven solutions to climate change. He is Vice Chair of California Environmental Voters, and serves on the boards of UCLA’s Institute of the Environment & Sustainability and UC Berkeley’s Center for Law, Energy & the Environment. Randall received a B.A. in Government from Harvard University, a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Virginia, and a Juris Doctorate degree from the U.C. Berkeley School of Law.

According to the LA Times interview, his priorities for the district include ensuring colleges are a pathway to opportunity and good jobs, students can afford basic needs and people historically shut out of higher education are let in. He believes that all colleges should partner with labor and employers to offer apprenticeships and “family-sustaining union careers,” he said, and the district should expand dual enrollment to allow more high school students to earn college credit. He also cited a need to provide more support to groups like veterans and first-generation students. He believes that boosting enrollment to increase state funding is the “most direct” way to increase revenue. He‘d also pursue other government funding as well as employer and philanthropic partnerships. There also needs to be “rigorous” oversight of the district’s construction program. He indicated that he won’t balance budgets on instruction or on the people who deliver it, stating that “Classrooms, faculty and staff come first.” He believes that most barriers to enrollment and student success are “logistical, not academic,” and he would push to “invest in simplified onboarding, proactive advising and better counselor ratios.” He believes that students who connect with a counselor early are far more likely to finish, and that counselors are stretched too thin to reach everyone who needs them.

In his Daily News interview, he indicated that the top two needs of the district are enrollment and affordability, and he thinks they are really the same problem. He noted that LACCD serves roughly 194,000 students, and enrollment still hasn’t recovered from the pandemic. Every student who doesn’t come back is a career interrupted. California funds community colleges largely on enrollment, so losing students also costs the money needed for the students who stay. He noted that people rarely leave because the coursework is too hard. They leave because rent is due, childcare falls through, the bus doesn’t come, or the financial aid paperwork defeats them. The district’s own housing report found 67% of LACCD students face housing insecurity, up 12 points since 2016. So he believes there are two answers. (1) Get students back: dual enrollment with LAUSD, re-enrollment outreach in the languages our families actually speak, and stripping out the paperwork that pushes people out before they start. (2) Treat housing, food, childcare, transit, and mental health as academic strategy rather than charity, because they decide who finishes.

He has a large number of endorsements: Democratic organizations, labor, teacher groups, other LACCD trustees, and loads of elected officials.

📋 Conclusion

I think there are only two candidates worth consideration. Dr. Roberto David LaCarra can be dismissed as he hasn’t really run a campaign for this seat. Tonia Arey seems to view the seat as a stepping stone to something further; I don’t get the sense she really cares about the LACCD.

The choice really boils down to the incumbent, Gabriel Buelna, who has done a good job and has lots of endorsements, and the younger challenger, Randall Winston, who also has lots of endorsements. They have similar platforms. It really boils down to gut feelings. My gut is telling me the Buelna, the incumbent, understands things better and is more focused on the LACCD, while Winston is using the office is a step to something more. It’s just a sense I’m getting from the endorsements.

Conclusion: ⚫ Gabriel Buelna (NP) ⭐INC

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