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 Legislature, lawmaking body for the Government of Los Angeles, city government of Los Angeles, California, the second largest city in the United States. It has 15 members who each represent the 15 city council ...

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. A member of the Democratic Party, 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 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Early life

Mitch O'Farrell was born in

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

in 1960, and raised in the

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

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 Okl ...

. 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 headquartered in northeastern Oklahoma. They are descendants of the Wyandot people, Wendat Confederacy and Native Americans with territory near ...

, 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 aver ...

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—2022)

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 A union organizer (or union organiser in Commonwealth spelling) is a specific type of trade union member (often elected) or an appointed union official. In some unions, the organizer's role is to recruit groups of workers under the organizing ...

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 (from (), 'strange, foreign, or alien', and (), 'fear') is the fear or dislike of anything that is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression that is based on the perception that a conflict exists between an in-gr ...

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 Thomas J. LaBonge (October 6, 1953 – January 7, 2021) was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served on the Los Angeles City Council from 2001 to 2015, representing the city's 4th district. Education A graduate of ...

of the

4th district Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'', a 1972 Soviet drama ...

. 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 corporation, 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 responsibilitie ...

Eric Garcetti Eric Michael Garcetti (born February 4, 1971) is an American politician and diplomat who served as the List of ambassadors of the United States to India, United States ambassador to India from 2023 to 2025. He was the 42nd mayor of Los Angeles f ...

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 adv ...

, 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 environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

and would later become chief of staff to Councilwoman

Nithya Raman Nithya V. Raman (born July 28, 1981) is an Indian 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 Socialis ...

, 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 b ...

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 an American former politician who served as a member of the Los Angeles City Council for the 6th district from 2013 until her resignation in 2022. A former member of the Democratic Party, Martinez became pre ...

's resignation in wake of the

2022 Los Angeles City Council controversy 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 ...

. O'Farrell conceded the 2022 election to Soto-Martinez on November 15.

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 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 The Echo Park Lake is a lake and urban park in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Originally built in the 1860s as a reservoir for drinking water, today Echo Park Lake is a Los Angeles icon that functions primarily as a dete ...

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 Animal consciousness, sentient animals have Moral patienthood, moral worth independent of their Utilitarianism, utility to humans, and that their most basic interests—such as ...

. 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 resided with his partner George Brauckman in

, but moved back to Oklahoma after his defeat.

Electoral history

2013

2017

2022

References

External links

* , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:OFarrell, Mitch 1960 births 21st-century Native American politicians 21st-century California politicians California Democrats American gay politicians American LGBTQ city council members LGBTQ people from California Living people Presidents of the Los Angeles City Council Native American city councillors People from Moore, Oklahoma Wyandotte Nation people LGBTQ people from Oklahoma 21st-century American LGBTQ people LGBTQ Native Americans Native American people from California Native American people from Oklahoma