The Los Angeles, California Progressive Voter Guide for the November 2026 General Election by LA Forward
You can find the new and improved LA Forward Voter Guide site at laforwardguide.org
The new site includes all of the following, plus coverage of dozens of cities and districts across Los Angeles
California Statewide Ballot Measures Guide
California Statewide Elected Offices Candidate Guide
California State Senate Guide
Los Angeles County Ballot Measure Guide
Los Angeles Countywide Candidates Guide
City of Los Angeles Candidates and Ballot Measure Guide
Why We Support Nithya Raman for LA City Mayor
https://laforwardguide.org/guide/los-angeles#nithya-raman
Why We Support Marissa Roy for LA City Attorney
https://laforwardguide.org/guide/los-angeles#marissa-roy
Why We Support Estuardo Mazariegos for LA City Council, District 9, South Central
https://laforwardguide.org/guide/los-angeles#estuardo-mazariegos
ADDITIONAL CITIES
Candidates: Alhambra, Baldwin Park, Burbank, Burbank USD, Carson, Centinela Valley Union High School District, Claremont, Claremont USD, Cudahy, Culver City, Culver City USD, Duarte, El Segundo, Garvey School District, Glendora, Glendora USD, Hawthorne, Hermosa Beach, Huntington Park, Inglewood, Inglewood USD, LA Community College District, Lawndale, Lynwood, Manhattan Beach, Maywood, Monrovia, Monterey Park, Palmdale, Pasadena Area Community College District, Rosemead, Rowland USD, Santa Clarita, Santa Monica, Santa Monica College, Saugus Union School District, SMMUSD, South Pasadena, Torrance USD, West Covina, West Hollywood, William S. Hart Union School District, Wiseburn USD
Ballot Measures: Alhambra, Burbank, Claremont Unified School District, Cudahy, Culver City, Hermosa Beach, Huntington Park, Inglewood, Inglewood Unified School District, Lynwood, Monterey Park, Paramount, Pasadena, Pasadena Community College, Redondo Beach, Rosemead, Santa Monica, Santa Monica School District, South Gate, Whittier
CITY OF LOS ANGELES CANDIDATE ENDORSEMENTS
LA City Mayor: Nithya Raman
LA Forward members determine who we endorse in every race and their choice in this race was decisive. More than 90% of our members voted to endorse Nithya Raman as the best option for Mayor.
Being LA’s Mayor is an incredibly difficult job in the best of times. And needless to say, these are not the best of times. As former Deputy Mayor and Deputy Controller Rick Cole has noted, “beneath the broken sidewalks is a broken system that desperately needs fixing.”
Of the two candidates in this race, we believe Councilmember Raman is best suited to ensure LA City government truly delivers for all Angelenos.
Mayor Bass is smart, hard-working, and rooted in a long history of organizing and public service. That’s why we were proud to endorse her in 2022. But with notable exceptions such as verbally standing up to ICE, she hasn’t risen to the challenge of being Mayor, especially when it comes to managing our city government and communicating effectively with the public. Bass has frequently taken the political path of least resistance, taking for granted the progressive voter base that got her elected initially. Bass has prioritized appeasing powerful interests like the police union and Airbnb, which are the same forces that have funded conservative candidates across the city, and are now spending millions of dollars to boost her re-election campaign.
Despite Raman’s much shorter tenure in local politics, she has a clearer understanding of the ineffective areas of our city government, and a vision for how to fix them.
Raman’s track record in office over the last six years has largely aligned with LA Forward’s priorities
* Nithya helped move LA toward a citywide unarmed crisis response system
* Nithya spearheaded new protections for renters (even before new progressive colleagues joined her on council in 2022),
* Nithya co-authored the sanctuary city ordinance to protect immigrants
* Nithya championed good governance reforms to reduce corruption and increase the effectiveness of government
* Nithya secured a unanimous council vote for building electrification climate policy, and backed expanded transportation and mobility options
There is a clear contrast between the two candidates over the last four years
* Nithya used her position as chair of the Council’s Housing and Homelessness Committee to try to get the Venice Dell affordable housing project out of the red tape purgatory to which Mayor Bass, City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto, and Councilmember Traci Park had consigned it.
* Nithya was one of only a few votes against deals created by Mayor Bass that drained the city’s coffers through overspending on police salaries and a Convention Center overhaul, leading to cutbacks of other vital city services.
* Nithya fought for real charter reform, including council expansion, greater oversight powers for the City Controller, and increased police accountability, while Mayor Bass unnecessarily delayed the Charter Commission’s start by eight months and then thwarted attempts at broader reform.
* Nithya used her role on the AQMD board to fight climate change and air pollution before Mayor Bass removed her for being too hard-charging.
Aside from all the issues where we’ve appreciated Raman’s leadership more than Bass’s, we are most hopeful about things that are not policy-specific.
Recently Bass supporters have been spreading the idea that LA City’s mayor is “weak” and that the Council has all the real power. While the Council wields tremendous power, the Mayor has extensive authority to make change within city government, as long-time nonpartisan observers have noted in recent pieces by Robert Greene and Jim Newton.
We need a Mayor who pays attention to management, hires top leaders who understand how to get things done at City Hall, and communicates in a way that meets the challenges of the always-on media landscape.
We need a Mayor who is laser-focused on ensuring LA City government works well on a daily basis, holds Department leaders accountable for outcomes, and keeps policy implementation and Angelenos’ experience of government top of mind.
This is not an easy task for anyone but Bass has been largely missing in action and we see Raman asking the right questions and setting the right priorities.
We’re also impressed by Raman’s ambitious and detailed policy agenda. We’re reassured by the commitments she’s made to us personally for collaborative governance and coalition-building, including on issues where we don’t agree.
While we appreciate Bass’ focus on homelessness, we agree with Raman’s assessments about the flaws of “Inside Safe” which is getting more expensive and less effective. And while we appreciate some of the achievements that have occurred during Bass’ tenure in office, like getting LA off of coal power, in most cases, Bass is taking credit for policies that others spearheaded long before she was Mayor. Bass was not the first mayor to notice and address homelessness despite what she has claimed. Eric Garcetti, for all his own flaws, spent real political capital to campaign for more funding for homeless housing with Measure HHH in 2016 and work to get bridge/interim housing built across the city.
Bass’ appointment of Jim McDonnell as police chief has been a huge step backwardsfor the city, a stance so dismaying that it caused the Black LA Young Democrats to support Raman.
Raman has received an impressive array of endorsements including City Controller Kenneth Mejia, former Controller Laura Chick, the California Working Families Party, Eastside Padres, Latino Coalition of Los Angeles, ACCE, Initiate Justice Action, nearly all environmental environmental organizations – Sierra Club, LA League of Conservation Voters, Sunrise Movement, Food & Water Action, Climate Action California, California Environmental Voters –, a growing number of Democratic clubs, plus unions of healthcare workers (SEIU 121RN Nurse Alliance, Committee of Interns and Residents/SEIU), transportation workers (Transportation Communications Union/IAM, Transport Workers Union of America), hospitality workers (UNITE HERE 11), LA City professional workers (EAA Union) Writers Guild of America West, Carpenters, Inlandboatmen’s Union of Pacific (ILWU), AFT Local 1521A, and UAW Region 6.
For all these reasons and more, LA Forward is proud to join partners in endorsing Nithya Raman for Mayor.
LA City Attorney: Marissa Roy
In the race for LA City Attorney, voters have one of the easiest choices on the ballot. Marissa Roy is the best choice for LA City Attorney. After a disastrous four years of incumbent Hydee Feldstein Soto, Roy promises to make the office of City Attorney a true public interest law firm that protects workers, tenants, immigrants, and communities from corporate abuse — not a rubber stamp for the powerful. We endorse Marissa Roy for LA City Attorney.
The City Attorney is LA’s lawyer: they advise the mayor and City Council, prosecute misdemeanors, and decide how aggressively the city takes on wage theft, illegal evictions, consumer fraud, and environmental harms. In practice, that means the City Attorney can either use the law to hold slumlords, union‑busting employers, polluters, and abusive police accountable – or duck those fights and leave communities on their own.
Recent years have shown how much damage a cautious, corporate‑friendly City Attorney can do, from weak enforcement against bad landlords to settlements that protect city departments more than residents. A progressive, movement‑aligned City Attorney can instead shift the office toward impact litigation, civil rights enforcement, and real accountability for abuses that fuel homelessness, displacement, and distrust.
Marissa Roy is a lifelong Angeleno who decided to go into public service when Proposition 8 stripped marriage equality from LGBTQ Californians, including her younger brother. She began her legal career in the LA City Attorney’s Office, bringing major workers’ rights cases to protect people from wage theft and other exploitation. Roy later served as outside counsel for Los Angeles County, where she joined legal actions against the Trump administration to defend sanctuary policies, DACA recipients, students, and immigrants seeking asylum. Today she is a Deputy Attorney General in the California Department of Justice, suing large tech companies over practices that threaten public health and safety and standing up for tenants who are wrongfully evicted and consumers who are defrauded.
Roy is explicit: she is running to transform the City Attorney’s Office into the largest public interest law firm in Los Angeles. Her agenda includes:
* Protecting workers and tenants by aggressively enforcing wage and hour laws, cracking down on wage theft, and defending renters from illegal evictions and abusive landlord practices.
* Taking on corporate and tech abuse by scaling up impact litigation against corporations engaged in unlawful, unfair, or deceptive conduct that harms Angelenos.
* Making civil rights and immigrants’ rights central to the office’s mandate, including pushing back on racial profiling, unconstitutional policing, and ongoing attacks from the Trump administration.
* Pursuing smart public safety by prioritizing strategies that actually make communities safer — diversion, prevention, accountability — rather than reflexive criminalization that feeds mass incarceration.
Roy’s entire career has been about using the law as a tool for economic and social justice, not as a shield for powerful institutions.
The incumbent, Hydee Feldstein Soto, came in third during the primary so Roy will be up against John McKinney, the second-place finisher.
McKinney, a deputy district attorney, comes from a traditional “tough on crime” background and has run on a more carceral, prosecutor‑first approach that would exacerbate the very problems progressives are trying to solve. He’s been backed by the Republican Party, the LAPPL police union, Republican DA Nathan Hochman, and a whopping $3 million of outside spending from Airbnb during the primary alone.
John McKinney’s right-wing ties are deeply disturbing. His campaign is backed by some of the biggest Republican and MAGA donors in California. And his campaign is being run by Republican consultants who have come under scrutiny for unethical conduct while working for Trump, including a controversial fundraiser accused of shady practices like money laundering.
Roy stands alone as the candidate who is both rooted in Los Angeles and clearly committed to turning the office loose on wage thieves, slumlords, polluters, and abusive corporations – and to reorienting the City Attorney’s work around workers, tenants, and over‑policed communities instead of City Hall insiders.
District 3: Barri Worth Girvan
Councilmember Bob Blumenfield is termed out and so the southwest corner of the Valley has the first open race in more than a dozen years.
Barri Worth Girvan is the best choice for the West Valley, and LA Forward is proud to endorse her for LA City Council District 3.
She backs policies to tackle the housing crisis directly and supports a compassionate approach to homelessness that effectively gets people off the streets and into housing, instead of relying on criminalization.
She’s eager to promote the expansion of unarmed crisis response services across the Valley, so we’re not sending armed people to deal with issues that deserve trained mental health responders.
She’ll champion climate solutions that combat global warming which is driving up temperatures in the Valley year after year. And, she will back long-term, comprehensive infrastructure planning to help fix the broken sidewalks, streetlights, and potholes across our city.
Barri has had a long career in public service and a great reputation among people who know her. Her supporters include environmental organizations, including the LA League of Conservation Voters (LALCV) and Sierra Club, the Democratic Party of San Fernando Valley (DPSFV), the San Fernando Valley Young Democrats (SFVYD), the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW), the Engineers & Architects Association (EAA), Women's Political Committee of Los Angeles (WPC) and California Women's List.
She also has endorsements from a wide range of Valley political and community leaders:
* Congresswomen Julia Brownley, Luz Rivas, and Sydney Kamlager-Dove;
* State Senators Henry Stern, Caroline Menjivar, Ben Allen, Maria Elena Durazo;
* State Assemblymembers Mark González, Nick Schultz, Jesse Gabriel, Celeste Rodriguez, Mike Fong, Pilar Schiavo
* Andra Hoffman, Los Angeles Community College Board of Trustees
* Nick Melvoin, LAUSD Board Member
* Nikki Perez, Mayor, City of Burbank
* Ray Pearl, Westlake Village Mayor and Councilmember
* Jeremy Wolf, Mayor Pro Tempore, City of Agoura Hills
* Alicia Weintraub, Calabasas City Councilmember and former Mayor
* David Shapiro, Councilmember and Former Mayor, City of Calabasas
* Danny Hang, West Hollywood Councilmember
* Ed Albrecht, Councilmember, City of Calabasas
* Deborah Klein Lopez, Agoura Hills Councilmember
In contrast, her opponent is backed by the police union, landlord lobby, real estate interests, and the most conservative members of the City Council.
Barri is not a movement progressive like most of our endorsed candidates, but we trust that she will work with us closely and partner to help make Los Angeles a fair, flourishing place for everyone, unlike her opponent who would consolidate a growing conservative presence on council.
For all these reasons and more, LA Forward endorses Barri Worth Girvan and encourages West Valley residents to vote for her!
District 9: Estuardo Mazariegos
Estuardo Mazariegos is the best choice in City Council District 9, endorsed local teachers (UTLA), healthcare workers, environmental justice groups, and Bernie Sanders, and and all of us at LA Forward
Estuardo will be an unapologetic champion for working families, young people, immigrants, renters, and neighborhoods that City Hall has neglected for far too long.
He’s the only candidate with real plans to:
* Address homelessness effectively and compassionately, getting people off the streets and into housing with supportive services
* Fix streets, sidewalks, and streetlights
* Improve police accountability and address the causes of crime
* Protect and support the immigrant community
Council District 9 is one of the youngest, poorest, and most heavily burdened districts in Los Angeles, stretching from the southern edge of Downtown through South Los Angeles communities that face housing insecurity, disinvestment, and environmental harms. With Curren Price termed out, this is the first open-seat race in the district since 2013. It’s a real chance to send someone to City Hall who is rooted in community, instead of the insider culture that has repeatedly failed South L.A.
This is also a contest over what representation should look like in a district where residents are too often over-policed, under-served, and only remembered during election season. District 9 does not need another manager of decline or another politician promising ribbon cuttings while basic services fall apart; it needs a fighter.
Estuardo Mazariegos is a father, immigrant, and longtime community organizer who has spent nearly two decades working alongside low-income residents, tenants, immigrants, and Black and Brown families. He is the co-director of ACCE Los Angeles, a grassroots organization that has been central to major fights for renter protections, economic justice, and racial justice across the city.
Mazariegos’ story matters here because it is inseparable from the district he wants to represent. He came to the United States from Guatemala as a child, grew up in working-class neighborhoods in Los Angeles, studied labor and public administration at Cal State Dominguez Hills and Cal State L.A., and has said his family’s union jobs taught him how closely immigrant dignity is tied to worker organizing and collective power.
Unlike candidates who discover justice and equity when they file paperwork for office, Mazariegos has made a career out of building power with people whom City Hall tends to ignore. That is exactly the kind of perspective District 9 needs.
Mazariegos is running on a platform centered on affordable homes, renter rights, Black-Latino solidarity, and a city government that actually shows up for working people. He has pledged to expand social housing, enforce tenant protections, invest in neglected neighborhoods, and reject the influence of corporate PACs, real-estate developers, and police associations.
He has also drawn a sharp and welcome distinction on public safety. Mazariegos does not support increasing the size of LAPD, and he argues that safety means safe streets, functioning lights, responsive services, and neighborhoods that receive public investment rather than abandonment. That is a far more honest vision than the tired City Hall script that treats policing as the answer to every social failure.
On government reform, Mazariegos has recognized something many Angelenos feel every day: trust in City Hall has collapsed. He says District 9 has the lowest voter turnout in the city, links that disengagement to unanswered 311 calls and broken basic services, and supports ethics reforms, stronger conflict-of-interest rules, stricter outside-income disclosure, and efforts to close the revolving door between lobbyists and public office.
His opponent is Jose Ugarte, who’s a City Hall insider – a staffer for Curren Price and a longtime political consultant who would be another voice for the establishment. Ugarte started a lobbying firm while he still was working for Price and he was fined $25,000 by the L.A. Ethics Commission for failing to disclose multiple years’ worth of income he made from lobbying. The owners of upscale L.A. hotels have spent nearly $150,000 to elect Ugarte, while Ugarte’s boss voted to delay a wage increase for hotel and airport workers until after the 2028 Olympics. Ugarte has also taken thousands in campaign contributions from a developer that needs City Council approval to build their new hotel.
Mazariegos is running as an organizer, and that matters. In a district battered by displacement, speculative development, and long-term neglect, the district needs a leader who has been in the trenches fighting for renters, immigrants, and low-income families before there was a title attached. On that test, Mazariegos is the clear choice.
His coalition reflects that politics. He is backed by Bernie Sanders, California Working Families Party, Initiate Justice Action, EAA Union, the National Union of Healthcare Workers, the teachers union, the environmental group LA League of Conservation Voters, LGBT groups like Stonewall Democrats, Controller Kenneth Mejia, and Councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez. The teachers unions (UTLA) describe him as a community and labor organizer committed to South Central who has partnered on affordable housing issues. He is also supported by movement organizations that know firsthand that he has spent years doing the work, not just talking about it.
He proudly refuses all corporate campaign contributions because he understands that the corporate-politician complex is part of what is holding us down. He has a record of taking on City Hall and winning, leading the fights to cap rent increases, preserve affordable housing, and protect immigrant families. Now he will address homelessness, fix crumbling roads, sidewalks, and streetlights to make our neighborhoods safer, cleaner, and more affordable.
Mazariegos’s record is not polished for elite comfort, and that is part of why he is compelling.
He has been open about mistakes he made that got him arrested as a young person. He makes the case that this creates a deeper connection with residents whose lives are shaped by the policing and legal system rather than protected by it.
In a district where too many people know what it means to be targeted, discarded, or written off, that honesty is a strength, not a liability.
Visit lavote.gov to find your nearest vote center or ballot drop box.
NOTE ABOUT THE GUIDE AND HOW WE ARRIVED AT OUR RECOMMENDATIONS
LA Forward is dedicated to democracy. We support policies and power-building to make Los Angeles County a fair, flourishing place for everyone.
We’ve been publishing detailed voter guides every election since we launched in Fall 2016. Our local candidate endorsements are the result of a multi-step process. For all other candidates and measures, the recommendations below were written by a team of volunteers and staff. Our team consulted publicly available media coverage, candidate and organizational websites, and conducted interviews with people in our networks and on the ground to make our decisions and complete our write-ups. Candidates and ballot measure committees were not given the opportunity to pay for preferential treatment and were not shown these recommendations before they were published.
If this voter guide has been useful for you, we’d be grateful for a donation of any amount to help cover the costs of making it every election! A majority of our budget comes from our donations from people like you.