Mitch O'Farrell (born 1960) is an American politician, who served as a member of the
Los Angeles City Council
The Los Angeles City Council is the legislative body of the Los Angeles, City of Los Angeles in California.
The council is composed of 15 members elected from single-member districts for four-year terms. The President of the Los Angeles City Counc ...
for the
13th district from 2013 to 2022, during which he spent eight days as
President of the City Council during the
2022 Los Angeles City Council scandal
On October 9, 2022, an audio recording surfaced of a private meeting involving Los Angeles City Council members and a union leader that involved racist and disparaging comments and led to a local political scandal. The audio recording captured a ...
. A member of the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
, O'Farrell was the first Native American elected to the body, and was one of its two openly gay members until the end of his second term in
2022
File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...
.
Early life
Mitch O'Farrell was born in
Oklahoma
Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
in 1960, and raised in the
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...
suburb of
Moore, Oklahoma
Moore is a city in Cleveland County, Oklahoma, United States, and is part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. The population was 62,793 at the 2020 census, making Moore the seventh-largest city in the state of Oklahoma.
Located between Oklah ...
. He grew up in a farming community. His mother was an administrative assistant and his father was a Teamster truck driver. O'Farrell is a member of the
Wyandotte Nation
The Wyandotte Nation is a Federally recognized tribes, federally recognized Native American tribe in northeastern Oklahoma. They are descendants of the Wyandot people, Wendat Confederacy and Native Americans with territory near Georgian Bay and ...
, and is the first Native American to be elected to the Los Angeles City Council.
Career
O'Farrell first moved to Los Angeles in 1982 for an audition. During the 1980s, he pursued a career in the arts and was a professional dancer and actor. He has lived in
Glassell Park
Glassell Park is a neighborhood of Northeast Los Angeles, California, in the San Rafael Hills.
Population
The 2000 U.S. Census counted 23,469 residents in the 2.75-square-mile Glassell Park neighborhood—or 8,524 people per square mile, an averag ...
since 1992.
O’Farrell quickly became an active member of the Glassell Park and greater Los Angeles community. Most notably, he was elected President of the Glassell Park Improvement Association and helped form the Glassell Park Neighborhood Council. O’Farrell also served as president of the Northeast Democratic Club, and regularly volunteered at local non-profits including the Wildlife Waystation, Project Angel Food, and the Santa Cecilia Orchestra. In 2002, he was hired by then-Councilmember Garcetti to work in his office, where he remained for ten years. O'Farrell served as a field deputy, deputy director, district director, and finally as senior advisor.
Los Angeles City Council (2013—)
Elections
2013
In 2013, O'Farrell ran for the City Council seat held by Garcetti, where he faced former Public Works Commissioner and
labor activist John Choi. The contest between O'Farrell and Choi was noted for being unusually contentious. During the campaign, Choi accusing O'Farrell of
xenophobia
Xenophobia () is the fear or dislike of anything which is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression of perceived conflict between an in-group and out-group and may manifest in suspicion by the one of the other's activities, a ...
during the contest over a campaign flier that included "a grainy picture of him above the words “not from our community.” O'Farrell responded by saying that "I didn’t like it anymore than you did, John" and noted it was from an independent group, but also noted that "
e fact is my opponent is new to the district... “I am the local candidate.”
During the campaign, he was endorsed by many elected officials including Councilmembers
Ed Reyes
Eduardo Perez Reyes (born January 11, 1959) is an American politician. He was a member of the Los Angeles City Council, representing the 1st district. of the
1st district and
Tom LaBonge
Tom or TOM may refer to:
* Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name)
Characters
* Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head''
* Tom Beck, a character ...
of the
4th district. After a tumultuous campaign, O'Farrell won in the runoff of the election, receiving 53.05% to John Choi's 46.94%.
2017
O'Farrell was reelected with 59.26% of the vote (17,053 votes) in a wide-open contest. During the campaign, O'Farrell was endorsed in his reelection bid by
Mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...
Eric Garcetti
Eric Michael Garcetti (born February 4, 1971) is an American politician who served as the 42nd mayor of Los Angeles from 2013 until 2022. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he was first elected in the 2013 Los An ...
and local
chambers of commerce
A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to a ...
, among other politicians and organizations. Coming in second place was challenger Sylvie Shane, a founding member of the LA Tenants Union, who received 15.07% of the vote. Jessica Salans, who was endorsed by the
Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...
and would later become chief of staff to Councilwoman
Nithya Raman
Nithya V. Raman is an American urban planner, activist, and politician serving as the Los Angeles City Councilmember for the 4th District since 2020. Raman, a member of the Democratic Party and the Democratic Socialists of America, defeated incum ...
, came in a close third place.
2022
It was speculated that O'Farrell would receive a challenge from a
progressive candidate in the 2022 election.
Police abolitionist Albert Corado, homelessness policy advisor Kate Pynoos, and
UNITE HERE
UNITE HERE is a labor union in the United States and Canada with roughly 300,000 active members. The union's members work predominantly in the hotel, food service, laundry, warehouse, and casino gaming industries. The union was formed in 2004 by ...
organizer
Hugo Soto-Martinez
Hugo Soto-Martinez is an American labor organizer and politician, currently serving as a member of the Los Angeles City Council for the 13th district since 2022. A member of the Democratic Party and the Democratic Socialists of America, Soto-Mar ...
challenged O'Farrell from the left; Sheriff's Deputy Steve Johnson also ran against O'Farrell.
In October, O'Farrell became Acting President of the City Council for eight days following
Nury Martinez
Nury Martinez (born July 9, 1973) is a Mexican-American politician who served as a member of the Los Angeles City Council for the 6th district from 2013 until her resignation in 2022. A member of the Democratic Party, Martinez became president ...
's resignation in wake of the
2022 Los Angeles City Council controversy.
Tenure
As the first Native American to serve on the Los Angeles City Council, O'Farrell has championed indigenous issues. He proposed and successfully established the creation of
Indigenous Peoples Day
Indigenous Peoples' Day is a holiday in the United States that celebrates and honors indigenous American peoples and commemorates their histories and cultures. It is celebrated across the United States on the second Monday in October, and is a ...
in Los Angeles, and was endorsed by Chief Billy Friend of the Wyandotte Nation nearly a decade ago, during his 2013 City Council campaign.
O'Farrell has been a supporter of expanding the City's housing stock, particularly of covenanted affordable housing. During his time in office, over 4,300 units of covenanted affordable housing were built in Council District 13.
O'Farrell is described as having "spearheaded efforts to remove the camp" of homeless people at Echo Park Lake during a widely-publicized and controversial police-led action to sweep out the unhoused and temporarily close the historically popular city park towards the end of the COVID19 pandemic. O'Farrell has been criticized for "not doing more to ensure the safety of those living in the encampment". As head of the City Council's Homelessness and Poverty Committee, O'Farrell has spoken in favor of limiting which sidewalks homeless people would be allowed to sleep on.
After removal of the encampment, O'Farrell's office significantly altered the layout and nature of Echo Park Lake, erecting an enormous security fence enclosing the previously wide-open community park, restricting access to a small number of specific discrete entrances, contracting private security to monitor the park, and adding surveillance cameras that cover "every inch of the park".
Despite claims by O'Farrell's office that the unhoused residents would be placed into permanent supportive housing, today, out of the 200 or so residents who were swept from Echo Park Lake, only around 9 are in permanent housing. Several have since died, and many more have disappeared from official records.
O'Farrell has focused on improving
animal rights
Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the sa ...
. O'Farrell notes that his work has led to the banning of coyote snare traps in Los Angeles, which he describes as "one of his proud accomplishments" in his official biography.
Personal life
O'Farrell is openly gay. He resides with his partner George Brauckman in
Glassell Park
Glassell Park is a neighborhood of Northeast Los Angeles, California, in the San Rafael Hills.
Population
The 2000 U.S. Census counted 23,469 residents in the 2.75-square-mile Glassell Park neighborhood—or 8,524 people per square mile, an averag ...
.
Electoral history
2013
2017
2022
References
External links
Council District 13 official website*
, -
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:OFarrell, Mitch
1960 births
21st-century Native American politicians
California Democrats
Gay politicians
LGBT city councillors from the United States
LGBT people from California
Living people
Presidents of the Los Angeles City Council
Native American city councillors
People from Moore, Oklahoma
Wyandot people
LGBT people from Oklahoma
21st-century LGBT people
LGBT Native Americans