Inside Cindy’s Diner in Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, a candidate for California’s State Senate District 26—Sara Hernandez—was holding court, explaining her plans to help improve the city. Twenty people had shown up to the small ma-and-pa restaurant, and her team welcomed patrons at the door. There were families and individuals of all ages, gathered around eating finger food and talking about housing affordability, transportation improvements, and future progress they hope to see after the midterm elections this November. Hernandez worked the room with a smile, talking to people about the changes she hoped to make if elected.
Hernandez, a registered Democrat, is running against fellow Democrat Sarah Rascón. In the June primary, Hernandez received more than 54,000 votes, while Rascón received a little over 34,000, advancing them both from an eight-person field to the general election. Both candidates have made housing affordability and reducing homelessness centerpieces of their campaigns.
District 26 includes Eagle Rock, Koreatown, Echo Park andBoyle Heights. “This city has so much amazing potential. Obviously, there are a lot of challenges right now, but I love everything about L.A. that it has to offer,” Hernandez said in an interview. Born and raised in LA, she returned to the city to become a middle school teacher after earning a degree in public policy from Duke University.
As a teacher, Hernandez said she saw firsthand how children of all ages struggled due to lack of transportation and the high cost of living. She said she once had a student who was at the top of his class but started to fail halfway through the school year because of housing instability. He and his mother were being kicked out of their home, Hernandez recalled, living in converted garages. “People creating policy don’t actually experience any of that,” Hernandez stated.
In 2010, Hernandez started a non-profit called Helping Young People Excel (HYPE), which provides educational resources and opportunities to low-income students.
At the diner in Eagle Rock, Koreatown resident John Yi said the change he wants to see in LA is “Low rents. Period.” He said he was optimistic Hernandez would be able to make a difference. “She is such a change that we need in this district,” said Yi.
Yi said he was dismayed to see the development of expensive homes in low-income neighborhoods while wealthier communities have contested the building of new affordable housing. “We are displacing working-class immigrant communities like ours,” he said. Hernandez’s platform states that she supports creating affordable housing close to public transportation as “a civil right.”
After teaching, Hernandez earned a law degree from Loyola Marymount University. As an attorney, she represented immigrants affected by immigration policies. She visited immigration detention centers in Georgia and spoke with civilians who were detained by ICE and held for unfair questioning.
She had a client, a young man who arrived in the U.S. at five years old and grew up in Los Angeles. He was driving to North Carolina to visit his girlfriend when ICE agents pulled him over and arrested him, leaving him in a detention facility for over a year waiting for his case to proceed. “He was an American by every sense of the word except for the fact that he didn’t have status,” Hernandez said.
“She cares about changing the system, but it was her website having that platform that really drew me in,” said Jonathan Garza, a 35-year-old resident of the district. Garza says Hernandez’s experiences in the classroom as well as the courtroom give her a better understanding of how the government operates. “You have to actually know how the system works in order to change it,” Garza said.
Hernandez’s campaign has generated support from some younger voters, worried about the future of L.A. “L.A. has become increasingly unaffordable. A lot of that is related to housing. A lot of that is related to fuel costs,” said 23-year-old Santa Monica resident Tajvir Singh. He said the increasing cost of living is causing people to leave L.A., shattering the dream that once attracted young generations to the city.
Hernandez has a 7-year-old son and is currently on the Board of Trustees for the Los Angeles Community College District. “It’s really hard to run and to serve, especially if you are a woman, and especially if you are a woman who’s a mother,” said Hernandez.
