Fifteen Candidates Are on the 30th Congressional District Ballot
The winner will likely represent the district including West Hollywood for years, as it is an overwhelmingly safe blue stronghold where Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than 3-to-1.
LA Independent News Services
A field of 15 candidates is on the March 5 ballot to succeed Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, in the predominantly Democratic 30th Congressional District that includes West Hollywood.
There are 12 Democrats, two Republicans and one Peace & Freedom Party candidate running for this seat in a district stretching from West Hollywood to Pasadena and Echo Park to the Angeles National Forest.
Democrats include former Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer; state Sen. Anthony Portantino, D-La Cañada Flintridge; Assemblywoman Laura Friedman, D-Glendale; Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education member Nick Melvoin; former West Hollywood Mayor Sepi Shyne; Dr. Jirair Ratevosian, a former State Department official; and actor Ben Savage.
The race Is also notable for having the candidacy of LGBTQ+ and transgender activist Maebe A. Girl whose career experience includes serving as an at-large representative and treasurer for the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council. When she was elected in 2019, she became the first drag queen elected to public office in the country.
Courtesy Photos
Girl, also known as G. Pudlo, ran for Congress against Schiff in 2020 and 2022. She finished third in 2020 and placed second in a field of nine candidates in the 2022 June primary, advancing to the general election.
Schiff has not made an endorsement on his successor. He is running for the U.S. Senate seat formerly held by the late Dianne Feinstein after being a member of the House since defeating then-Rep. Jim Rogan, R-Glendale, in 2000.
The March 5 ballot will also include primaries for president, all of California’s 52 congressional seats, 20 of the 40 state Senate seats, all 80 seats in the Assembly, three seats on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, Los Angeles County district attorney, and Los Angeles City Council, and School board representatives — Council Districts 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 and Board of Education Districts 1, 3, 5, 7.
The ultimate winner in November will likely represent the district for years to come, as it is an overwhelmingly safe blue stronghold, where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than 3-to-1.
Portantino, Laura Friedman, Mike Feuer and Nick Melvoin are largely viewed as the strongest candidates — all having raised more than or close to $1 million for their campaigns and previously having represented hundreds of thousands constituents in districts that at least partially overlap with the 30th congressional district.
Friedman has been endorsed by the Los Angeles Times. Feuer has been endorsed by Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass.
Savage, the actor who played Cory Matthews on the ABC sitcom “Boy Meets World,” has also put more than $1 million into his campaign and has been viewed as a dark horse. However, he ran poorly in his 2022 race for the West Hollywood City Council in which he finished seventh.
The top two finishers in the primary will continue on to the general election in November.
“These crowded fields are very hard to predict in terms of who will make it through and who won’t,” Marva Diaz, a political consultant and publisher of the election guide California Target Book, call the Times.
According to Diaz, on-the-ground field campaigns are particularly important in such a crowded race, particularly with literature filling voter mailboxes.
Feuer says his experience working in state and local government and connections to legislators will help him “step in right now and exemplify every day that kind of leadership.” He said he is running because “our fragile democracy itself is on the line,” saying that as city attorney for Los Angeles he had sued the Trump administration on immigration policy and had authored California’s same-day voter registration law.
Friedman, a former film executive, says she has “achieved results on every progressive issue in California politics.” She says she is focused on the next generation: “the polluters keep polluting, the rights of women and our LGBTQIA+ community members are being eroded and the growing economic inequality and a shrinking middle class make me wonder if my daughter will ever be able to purchase a home.”
Melvoin, a former teacher, says he represents “a new generation of leadership to bring a solutions-oriented approach to our politics: not who is right, but what is right.” He says he is focused on “the urgent challenges that are hurting our communities… rising prices and sky-high rents and home costs. Schools are not getting the investments they need to deliver quality education for students. Our infrastructure is not built to meet the needs of the 21st century, which is holding back our economy.”
Portantino, a former city councilman, says he has “the temperament, experience and leadership skills to represent our district in Washington.” ?he says he will fight “radical politicians who deny climate change, who want to take away marriage equality, and want to remove a woman’s right to choose.”
Includes reporting from City News Service, Ballotpedia, the Los Angeles Daily News.
Photo caption
Candidates for California’s 30th congressional district are: (from top, left to right) Francesco Arreaga, Alex Balekian, Joshua Bocanegra, Steve Dunwoody, Mike Feuer, Laura Friedman, Sal Genovese, Emilio Martinez, Nick Melvoin, Courtney Najera, Anthony Portantino, Maebe A. Girl (AKA G. Pudlo), Jirair Ratevosian, Ben Savage and Sepi Shyne.
Courtesy Photos
