Gonzalez's announcement makes her the third LB Councilmember effectively seeking the seat. As previously reported by LBREPORT.com, Councilman Al Austin filed paperwork in the second half of 2017 and has raised funds for the state Senate seat (which was expected to become vacant in 2020 or earlier if Lara won the Insurance Commissioner race.) As also previously reported by LBREPORT.com, LB Councilman Roberto Uranga filed the same paperwork as Austin last week.

But Gonzalez apparently has the endorsement of the district's immediate past state Senator Lara [a political ally of Mayor Robert Garcia.]

[Scroll down for further.]

[Gonzalez for state Senate release text]...Statement from Insurance Commissioner-Elect Ricardo Lara:

"There is no better person to replace me in the State Senate than Lena Gonzalez. A dynamic woman in business. A mom with three sons. And a City Council leader.

"Lena took on the big corporations to protect the environment by banning styrofoam containers and protecting women working in hotels from sexual harassment and assault. Lena protected blue-collar jobs and stood up for the LGBTQ and immigrant communities. And Lena led the way to bring every child access to technology.

"Lena represents the future.

"As more people in every community meet her, they will appreciate why I am strongly supporting Lena Gonzalez for State Senate."...

Statement from Councilwoman Lena Gonzalez:

"I thank Insurance Commissioner-Elect Ricardo Lara for his confidence in my work and overall, for his strong support. I am committed to a new vision for Long Beach & South East LA - tackling climate change, creating more opportunities for affordable housing and un-apologetically supporting working families. I look forward to sharing ideas with community members in Senate District 33."

Gonzalez has authored and co-authored over 150 agenda items and is one of the most active members of the City Council. She has championed issues such as creating a citywide Project Labor Agreement, banning Styrofoam containers and creating workplace protections for port truck drivers and hotel workers.

Additionally, she fought to add more park space and programming in underserved communities, created more options for small businesses to participate in city contracts and created the City's first Digital Inclusion Roadmap, to ensure every Long Beach family has access to the Internet.

She was raised in a humble family environment, where her father was a Teamsters truck driver and her mother, who immigrated to the United States at a young age, worked her way from the Port of LA through Corporate America.

Councilwoman Gonzalez lives in Downtown Long Beach with her husband Adam and their three sons. She graduated with a B.A. in Political Science from Cal State Long Beach and an MBA from Loyola Marymount University.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The 33rd state Senate district stretches from Long Beach to Huntington Park:

Long Beach is the largest city within the district...meaning voters across a large part of LB will have an opportunity to vote for Gonzalez or any competing candidates.

Gonzalez's 1st Council district currently has LB's largest number of 2018 homicides and since August 2018 the largest number of shootings. Gonzalez was previously a 1st district office staffer for then Councilman/Vice Mayor Garcia, and he and endorsed her as his successor in the 2014 election cycle. Newly-elected Mayor Garcia then chose newly-elected Councilwoman Gonzalez to chair the Council's Elections Oversight Committee where her first major Committee action advanced a change in LB law that now lets the Mayor and Councilmembers triple amounts they can annually collect in their "officeholder" accounts.

Sponsor

Gonzalez faced no opponent in seeking 2018 re-election and was endorsed by much of LB's establishment. She famously attempted to cover our camera lens when we asked after her district's FY17 budget meeting if she'd support increasing police officers beyond level proposed by management and Mayor.

Screen save from LBREPORT.com video, Aug. 25, 2016.]

Among other paperwork-filed competitors:

8th district Councilman Austin was re-elected to a second term in 2016 and began fundraising in the second half of 2017 for a 2020 run for the state Senate seat...but that was before Measure BBB now allows him a third Council term without a write-in requirement. Councilman Austin is familiar with Sacramento officialdom as chair of the Council's State Legislation Committee...on which Gonzalez is also a member. Austin is a career worker/experienced negotiator for organized labor (a public employee union) but angered other organized labor reps by voting against "Claudia's Law" (hotel workers ordinance, triggering a successful union-backed petition-initiated ordinance.)

7th dist. Councilman Uranga is familiar with Sacramento politics as a state Senate Pro Tem appointed and re-appointed member of the CA Coastal Commission. Uranga angered environmentalists by casting a 2016 Coastal Commission vote to fire the agency's Executive Director Charles Lester but Uranga has deep organized labor ties that could become a factor if Uranga and Austin end up squaring off in the race.

Sponsor

Sponsor

If LB Councilman Uranga or Councilwoman Gonzalez were elected to the state Senate in 2019, it would trigger a no-runoff, winner-take-all special election to fill the 7th dist. Council seat. If Councilman Austin were elected to the state Senate in a June 2019 runoff, LBREPORT.com believes it's currently unclear if a special 8th district Council election would be held to fill an 8th district Council vacancy as its regularly scheduled election would occur in March 2020.

At least one other candidate. Bell City Councilwoman Ana Maria Quintana, has filed campaign committee paperwork for the 2020 seat; another Bell Councilmember, Ali Saleh, plus Lynwood Councilmember Jose Solache and Central Valley Water District member Leticia Vasquez-Wilson are considered potential candidates.

Developing. Further to follow.

Support really independent news in Long Beach. No one in LBREPORT.com's ownership, reporting or editorial decision-making has ties to incumbent Long Beach officials, development interests, advocacy groups or other special interests; or is seeking or receiving benefits of City development-related decisions; or holds a City Hall appointive position; or has contributed sums to political campaigns for Long Beach incumbents or challengers. LBREPORT.com isn't part of an out of town corporate cluster and no one its ownership, editorial or publishing decisionmaking has been part of the governing board of any City government body or other entity on whose policies we report. LBREPORT.com is reader and advertiser supported. You can help keep really independent news in LB similar to the way people support NPR and PBS stations. We're not non-profit so it's not tax deductible but $49.95 (less than an annual dollar a week) helps keep us online.