SARA HERNANDEZ

Why Thrive LA endorses SARA

Sara Hernandez is a housing, land use, and environmental attorney, a former LAUSD middle school teacher, and the current President of the Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees. She holds degrees from Duke University, Loyola Marymount University, and Loyola Law School, and she founded the nonprofit Helping Young People Excel. She is running to represent State Senate District 26, a diverse district stretching across central and northeast Los Angeles. This race comes down to a clear choice. Hernandez's opponent carries the backing of DSA-endorsed organizations and the activist infrastructure that has pushed Sacramento further toward tax increases, enforcement rollbacks, and anti-housing-provider regulations. Hernandez, by contrast, has assembled a coalition that includes California YIMBY, Abundant Housing LA, the Housing Action Coalition, and a deep bench of labor and infrastructure-focused endorsements. She is the candidate in this race who understands that building more housing requires removing barriers, not adding them. On housing supply, her instincts are correct: she supports increasing multifamily housing near transit, streamlining approvals, eliminating parking minimums, expanding ministerial approvals, and CEQA exemptions for infill housing. Those are the positions that will actually bring down housing costs in Los Angeles. As President of the LACCD Board of Trustees, Hernandez oversees a nine-college system serving over 200,000 students across Los Angeles County. That is real executive experience managing large public institutions, budgets, and workforce issues. She has earned endorsements from LA County Supervisors Janice Hahn and Hilda Solis, State Treasurer Fiona Ma, State Senator Ben Allen, and LA City Councilmember Tim McOsker. Her support from the Teamsters Joint Council 42 (and more than 22 affiliated locals), IBEW Local 11, the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 12, and the Western States Regional Council of Carpenters signals alignment with the workers who actually build housing and infrastructure in this city. Sara Hernandez is the pro-housing, pro-building candidate District 26 needs in the State Senate.