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Los Angeles Elects First Latino Mayor in 130 Years
Antonio Villaraigosa, a son of a Mexican immigrant, defeated incumbent Mayor Jim Hahn. Villaraigosa took about 59 percent of votes against 41 percent for Hahn, who beat Villaraigosa in a bitter 2001 election.
The city of Los Angeles has elected its first Latino mayor in over a century. Antonio Villaraigosa, a son of a Mexican immigrant, defeated incumbent Mayor Jim Hahn.
Villaraigosa took about 59 percent of votes against 41 percent for Hahn, who beat Villaraigosa in a bitter 2001 election. Turnout was low across the city at about 30 percent. Hahn conceded shortly after midnight in a call to his opponent.
Villaraigosa said his victory was a moment of unity for a city where Latinos make up 46 percent of the population. At a victory party, he told supporters "I will never forget where I came from, and I will always believe in the people of Los Angeles."
Villaraigosa dropped out of high school in East LA before paying his way through law school and rising to become the speaker of the state assembly. Hahn, on the other hand, comes from a powerful political dynasty and has been mayor since 2001. With last night's defeat, Hahn became the first Los Angeles mayor to lose a reelection bid in over three decades and the first to be denied a second term since 1933.
Villaraigosa's victory will make him Los Angeles' first Latino mayor since Cristobel Aguilar in 1872 when the city was a frontier town emerging from its days as a Mexican settlement. Los Angeles is now the nation's second largest city.
* Fernando Guerra, director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University. Guerra is also an associate professor at LMU in the departments of Chicano studies and political science.
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http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/05/18/1435211
Villaraigosa took about 59 percent of votes against 41 percent for Hahn, who beat Villaraigosa in a bitter 2001 election. Turnout was low across the city at about 30 percent. Hahn conceded shortly after midnight in a call to his opponent.
Villaraigosa said his victory was a moment of unity for a city where Latinos make up 46 percent of the population. At a victory party, he told supporters "I will never forget where I came from, and I will always believe in the people of Los Angeles."
Villaraigosa dropped out of high school in East LA before paying his way through law school and rising to become the speaker of the state assembly. Hahn, on the other hand, comes from a powerful political dynasty and has been mayor since 2001. With last night's defeat, Hahn became the first Los Angeles mayor to lose a reelection bid in over three decades and the first to be denied a second term since 1933.
Villaraigosa's victory will make him Los Angeles' first Latino mayor since Cristobel Aguilar in 1872 when the city was a frontier town emerging from its days as a Mexican settlement. Los Angeles is now the nation's second largest city.
* Fernando Guerra, director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University. Guerra is also an associate professor at LMU in the departments of Chicano studies and political science.
LISTEN ONLINE
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/05/18/1435211
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Antonio Villaraigosa is just another Democrat with the same capitalist agenda as the Republicans. It is irrelevant that he is Latino. The Democrats exist to keep the Reds out of office, and in keeping with that role, they played the Latino card to win. Because the incumbent Hahn offended some black politicians, the black vote went to Villaraigosa, proving once again that the black vote is decisive in any campaign in the workingclass communities.
Villaraigosa was Speaker of the Assembly, and thus a proven Democratic insider. Absolutely nothing will change with him as he and his party have as their primary goal to promote capitalism, always anti-labor by definition, just like the Republicans.
Democracy Now, and the rest of Pacifica, including most of KPFA, 94.1 FM, with certain notable exceptions such as Flashpoints, Guns & Butter, and Middle East Report, are all one Democratic Party campaign station. That must change. We have a large socialist community in the Bay Area, very active in the leadership of the peace movement and many other political causes, and socialists regularly run for office on the Peace & Freedom Party ticket, a socialist party on the ballot since 1968. One candidate, a Berkeley resident and former elected member of the Berkeley Rent Board, Marsha Feinland, won 250,000 votes for US Senate in November 2004, yet KPFA never interviewed her. This must change. The obvious reason for the fundraising crisis at KPFA is that it is 60% music and most of the news programs promote Democrats, and never interview socialists. There is also far too little labor programming on KPFA.
Villaraigosa was Speaker of the Assembly, and thus a proven Democratic insider. Absolutely nothing will change with him as he and his party have as their primary goal to promote capitalism, always anti-labor by definition, just like the Republicans.
Democracy Now, and the rest of Pacifica, including most of KPFA, 94.1 FM, with certain notable exceptions such as Flashpoints, Guns & Butter, and Middle East Report, are all one Democratic Party campaign station. That must change. We have a large socialist community in the Bay Area, very active in the leadership of the peace movement and many other political causes, and socialists regularly run for office on the Peace & Freedom Party ticket, a socialist party on the ballot since 1968. One candidate, a Berkeley resident and former elected member of the Berkeley Rent Board, Marsha Feinland, won 250,000 votes for US Senate in November 2004, yet KPFA never interviewed her. This must change. The obvious reason for the fundraising crisis at KPFA is that it is 60% music and most of the news programs promote Democrats, and never interview socialists. There is also far too little labor programming on KPFA.
For more information:
http://www.peaceandfreedom.org
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