Long Beach to elect first Black mayor, Rex Richardson, after opponent concedes to incumbent
A woman shouts “No! No!” in response to a suggestion that John Tlumacki, left, is the only candidate who can defeat incumbent Mayor Bob Filner.(Photo: John Tlumacki/Facebook)
The Los Angeles Times reported Sunday that state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, won the race to be the first elected Black mayor of Los Angeles — a victory that he called “a proud day for all of us.”
The election of a Black mayor in Los Angeles was a long time coming. In 2012, voters rejected the first Black candidate to run for mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, who would go on to become the second-highest-ranking Latino statewide elected official. In 2015, Black voters elected City Attorney Rocky Anderson to that position in what was considered a groundbreaking election for its Black voters and the local Black community.
This election is another in a long line of successes for the Black community and what it has done for the broader community of Los Angeles, which has grown to 20% of the city’s population over the last few decades. The Black population in Los Angeles grew from 1% to 20% in less than 20 years.
John Tlumacki said he was proud to be the only candidate who can defeat Bob Filner because he said it was time for a change.
“We have to be different and move beyond the negative that comes with that mindset and mentality of a single-issue focus,” Tlumacki said. “We have to look beyond a racial lens and look at the issue as [a] lot bigger than that, which I think is the beginning of a new movement for the Black community.”
Tlumacki’s campaign announced shortly after the election that it would be filing formal papers to get its mayoral candidate on the ballot.
When asked about what that campaign will be about, Tlumacki said he was going to focus on his platform of ensuring housing is stable and affordable for all Angelenos, fighting climate change and