Even though you may not know it, it’s election day in Los Angeles as community activist Wendy Carrillo and nonprofit healthcare director Luis Lopez square off Tuesday in a runoff for the 51st Assembly District seat left vacant after a round of political musical chairs.
Carrillo and Lopez topped a 13-candidate field in the Oct. 3 special election for the seat representing parts of eastern Los Angeles, with Carrillo receiving 5,058 votes, 22.2 percent, and Lopez 4,243, 18.6 percent, according to the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk.
A runoff is required since no candidate earned more than 50 percent of the vote.
In something of political musical chairs, the special election was prompted by then-Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez’s election to Congress in a special election June 6. That congressional seat was open because then Rep. Xavier Becerra was appointed to be California attorney general. The attorney general’s position was open because then-A.G. Kamala Harris was elected to the U.S. Senate.
The assembly district includes Echo Park, Chinatown, Glassell Park, Montecito Heights, Monterey Hills, El Sereno, Highland Park, Mount Washington, Lincoln Heights, City Terrace, Eagle Rock, East Los Angeles and a portion of Silver Lake.
“I believe that my work to create high-wage jobs, ensure access to quality health care, education and affordable housing resonated with people,” Carrillo told City News Service after the October election.
Carrillo, who was brought to the country as an “undocumented immigrant” from El Salvador but became a U.S. citizen in her 20s, was a host and producer on the “Knowledge is Power” radio program on Power 106 FM, discussing topics ranging from access to higher education to political transparency. She also worked with the Service Employees International Union, supporting organizing efforts by long-term care workers.
Lopez has been a board member of Planned Parenthood Los Angeles for seven years and is a former president of the Los Angeles East Area Planning Commission. An East Los Angeles native, Lopez is a former senior consultant at KPMG Consulting, and was an analyst at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
In 2005, he co-founded Honor PAC, a statewide Latina/o LGBT political action committee. He also led the Latino Coalition Against AIDS to promote awareness and prevention of AIDS.
—City News Service