LOS ANGELES (CNS) - The filing period begins Monday for the March 2 special election to fill the state Senate seat vacated by Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly Mitchell. Assemblywoman Sydney Kamlager, D-Baldwin Hills, announced her candidacy last month and has been endorsed by Mitchell. Kamlager was Mitchell's district director before being elected to represent the 54th Assembly District in a 2018 special election. The 54th Assembly District covers 53.6% of the 30th Senate District, according to the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk. Culver City Councilman Daniel Lee began his campaign Dec. 18 with an online event in which he was joined by the Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer, and philanthropist Aloe Blacc. Kamlager said that if elected, her priorities would include:
·criminal justice system reform “that moves us closer to equality
·before the law";
·employment strategies “that will reboot our economy and create
opportunities for all communities'';
·innovative investment in housing and homelessness initiatives;
·climate change action while working toward a Green New Deal and
·quality jobs; and
·investments in education and the arts.
Kamlager was a member of the Los Angeles Community College District
Board of Trustees from 2015-18. She was appointed in 2013 to the Los Angeles County Commission on Children and Families. Kamlager also worked at the Social and Public Arts Resource Center in Venice and the Ladera Heights-based early childhood care and education organization Crystal Stairs.
Lee said he is running "because instead of instituting substantive change in response to the unprecedented uprising this summer against white supremacy and police brutality, our state Legislature has only offered us eloquent phrases on the state level without more substantive policy action. “I'm running because as a renter, I am disappointed with the lip service that our state officials have given the plight of renters while voting against bills that would provide them more protections,” Lee said. “I'm running because though we hear inspiring words from our state leaders when it comes to addressing the climate crisis, we lack swift and concrete policy action that can address the deleterious health effects felt by frontline communities of color and low-income communities.” Lee said he supports a single-payer health care system; expanded homelessness services and stronger protections for renters; forcing public pension funds to “divest from corporate landlords like the Blackstone Group, who use investments from those pension funds to gentrify the neighborhoods of pension holders"; and “economic development focused on community participation from the start.” Lee has a master's degree in social welfare from UCLA and is a doctoral candidate at USC. He served in the Air Force and California Air National Guard, was an organizer for the South Los Angeles-based social justice organization Community Coalition and an environmental justice fellow at the social justice foundation the Liberty Hill Foundation.
The overwhelmingly Democratic 30th Senate District includes Culver City, Mar Vista, Century City, Ladera Heights, Exposition Park, South Los Angeles, Westmont, much of downtown Los Angeles and a portion of Inglewood. The filing period concludes Jan. 7. If no candidate receives a majority, a runoff between the top two finishers will be held May 4.