Mitchell maintained a steady lead early on during election night.
As of press time, Senator Holly J. Mitchell was the projected winner for the 2nd District Supervisor seat with 61% of the vote to Wesson’s 38.9%. Mitchell took the lead early on in the evening and kept a wide margin past midnight. She stands poised to take the seat for District 2 Supervisor replacing termed-out, Mark Ridley-Thomas. It’s been noted that Mitchell’s victory will see the county board run by five women for the first time.
At an Election Night Zoom call Wesson stated, “It’s early, even though we have a mountain to climb.” He continued, “I will cherish our friendship and say that I have enjoyed every moment that I have been your assemblyperson and your councilperson, and so let us kind of relax, lay back, get some more returns in.”
The 2nd District covers the area ranging from downtown, south through Inglewood and much of South L.A. to Carson, and as far west as Mar Vista. The five-member county Board of Supervisors controls a $37 billion budget with 110,000 county employees working on homelessness, managing county jail and hospital systems, and oversee child welfare, public safety and myriad other programs for more than 10 million county residents in 88 cities and unincorporated areas.
Both candidates came to election night with a list of endorsements with Wesson being endorsed by Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Inglewood Mayor James Butts, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, comedian Tiffany Haddish, Magic Johnson and rapper Snoop Dogg to name a few. Mitchell’s endorsements included California Governor Gavin Newsom, State Superintendent Tony Thurmond, SEIU 2015, labor leader and activist Dolores Huerta, Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors and rapper Common among others.
First elected to the Legislature in 2010, Mitchell represents nearly 1 million residents of the 30th Senate District, which ranges from Century City to South Los Angeles and takes in Culver City, Cheviot Hills, Crenshaw District, USC, downtown L.A. and a portion of Inglewood. She currently serves as a legislator in Residence at Mount St. Mary’s University and was appointed to the Los Angeles Coliseum Commission Board.
A third-generation native Angeleno, Mitchell is the daughter public servants and was nurtured by community leaders for a passion in service. She was named the first African American to chair the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee. Mitchell led California’s largest child and family development organization, Crystal Stairs, and worked for the Western Center for Law and Poverty.
From 2017 to present, Mitchell has overseen three consecutive state budgets each totaling nearly $215 billion. She has supported all efforts to expand access to healthcare, early care, and education while reinvesting in neglected services to help the elderly, unhoused and families living in poverty.
Sen. Mitchell has authored bills for the betterment of those who need the most assistance by addressing housing discrimination, economic inequity, and bias in access to health services. SB 188, the CROWN Act, gained international media attention, banning discrimination of natural hair by employers and public education institutions. As a result, the CROWN Act is being introduced in legislatures across the country.
In addition to her chairmanship on the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee, she also chairs the Senate Select Committee on Social Determinants of Children’s Well-Being and the Joint Legislative Budget Committee. Mitchell also sits on the Senate Health Committee; the Joint Committee on Rules; the Public Safety Committee; the Labor and Industrial Relations Committee; and the Insurance Committee; Select Committees on Mental Health; the Status of Boys and Men of Color; and Women Work and Families.
She has been cited for her outstanding leadership by more than 100 community and business groups, including the Courage Campaign, Sierra Club, United Cerebral Palsy Association, the Greater Los Angeles African American Chamber of Commerce and the Women’s Foundation of California Board. Mitchell was named the 2019 National Leader of the Year by the Fathers & Families Coalition of America and has received the Budget Champion Award from Provider Alliance to End Homelessness.
