CALÓ NEWS is pleased to publish this voting guide made by LAist for the upcoming elections. See below for information on voting, voting guides, useful Q&As, and an opportunity to ask timely questions. Also check out the interview with Sheriff Alex Villanueva and challenger Robert Luna, a retired police chief from Long Beach.
Category: Elections
CALÓ ON THE STREET: Should de León, Cedillo resign?
CALÓ NEWS spoke with Latinos on the streets of LA about De León’s refusal, the issue of racism within the Latino community, and what the community needs from its officials going forward.
EDITORIAL: CA needs more diversity in statewide appointments of power
Researchers at UCLA’s Latino Policy & Politics Institute released a report this month that analyzed appointees across California’s executive branch, including those on the state’s governing boards, commissions and departments. The report found that Latinos make up 18% of appointees from the governor and legislative leaders even though Latinos are 39% of the state population. Whites are over-represented at 36% of the state population but 48% of all appointees.
COMMENTARY: Political misinformation targets Latinos
In 2020, several platforms banned the #plandemic hashtag, associated with
a viral video espousing false COVID-19 conspiracies. But users continued
spreading misinformation on the platforms using #plandemia — the Spanish version — for many
more months.
CAROLINE MENJIVAR, daughter of Salvadorian parents, now a top candidate in State Senate District 20
Menjivar grew up in San Fernanco Valley, where her mother cleaned private homes and her father worked as a waiter at a Studio City country club. Menjivar recalled attending Encino Charter Elementary School, a public school in the high-priced suburb of Encino, CA. She immediately felt out of place, she said. “I was going to an affluent school where my classmate’s homes were big and they had big screen TVs,” Menjivar said. “That’s when I started [wondering] why my classmates had so many cool things, big houses, expensive things and we didn’t? As a kid, you don’t know what all that means. You just know that the inequity doesn’t feel right.”
EUNISSES HERNANDEZ, lifelong District 1 resident will be sworn onto LA City Council in December
Hernandez will be the next representative for District 1 on the Los Angeles City Council and will be one of the women representatives in what is now a male-dominated council. “I look forward to working with my colleagues in City Hall to make Los Angeles a city where all community members can thrive,” she told CALÓ NEWS.
EDITORIAL: We back California SEN. STEVE GLAZER’s bill supporting local news media outlets
Many of these small local newspapers and online media outlets report on school boards, city councils and community challenges in diverse communities that would go ignored if there weren’t journalists holding civic and community leaders accountable. This is especially important as disinformation and fake news, such as conspiracy theories, are spreading rapidly online and on social media.
EDITORIAL: KEVIN DE LEÓN loses, RICK CARUSO buys way into runoff
Latino candidate Kevin de León lost his bid for mayor. Caruso won with Latino voters and his ad buys in Spanish may have helped.
ADRIANA CABRERA, Grew up in South LA, now running to represent District 9
Adriana Cabrera said that she began organizing and getting involved in her South LA community as a 12-year-old after losing a boyfriend, cousin, neighbors and classmates to gang violence. In addition, she believes that her experiences sharing a one-bedroom with family, being a first-generation college graduate and surviving “extreme poverty” make her an ideal candidate to serve the neighbors she grew up with. “Me running has nothing to do with me and everything to do with my community,” she said. “It means the world to me that young people believe in me.”
CHRISTIAN GREEN, from foster care youth to college professor, experience taught him to vote smart
Christain Green is a sociology professor at Antelope Valley College in Los Angeles County. His path to that post has been long, with him starting off as a child in the county foster care system and later living on the streets of Southern California. He says that life experiences have left him a close follower of local politics and he worries about the outcomes of the looming June primaries and November general elections.
GARCIA vs. GARCIA, Two Latino Democrats vie to represent Long Beach, Downey, SELA in Congress
Two prominent leaders are in the running to represent Long Beach, Downey and Southeast Los Angeles in Congress. Meet Robert Garcia, Long Beach’s first Latino and openly gay mayor, and Cristina Garcia, an assemblywoman who came up as a fiery activist in Southeast Los Angeles’ (SELA) barrios.
LA mayoral candidates participate in Latino forum
Only 175 days until the City of Los Angeles holds a general election for mayor and last night four of the 12 in-ballot mayoral candidates participated in the “Latino Equity Now: Mayoral Candidate Forum,” hosted by the L.A. Latino Equity and Diversity Initiative (LALEADI). The forum took place at Plaza de la Raza, a cultural center in Lincoln Park, and provided candidates an opportunity to share their plans to address current issues and challenges impacting the Latino community.