Kisha Smith

Just ten months, after winning a landslide victory in her race for the 30^th Senate District seat previously occupied by now L.A. County Supervisor Holly Mitchell, State Senator Sydney Kamlager has announced a new race.

“I am running for Congress to continue Karen’s legacy of fighting for justice reform on the national level,” Kamlager has declared. “I’m prepared to jump into the fight to stop voter suppression that is spreading across our nation and will continue my track record of leading on job creation, economic justice, access to health care, and clean air and water for all.”

Kamlager entered the race at the urging of Congresswoman Karen Bass, who is currently one of the frontrunners in the race for L.A. Mayor. In addition to Bass, Kamlager has amassed a broad coalition of support, including Supervisor Holly Mitchell, L.A. Councilmembers Marqueece Harris-Dawson and Curren Price, Secretary of State Shirley Weber, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, Congressmember Ted Lieu, State Senators Steve Bradford, Maria Elena Durazo, and Ben Allen, Assemblymembers Chris Holden, Luz Rivas and Mike Gipson, Culver City Mayor Alex Fisch, Culver City Councilmembers Yasmine-Imani McCorrin, Culver City School Board Member Summer McBride, and many others.  

Kamlager, who serves as the Vice-Chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus and Chair of the Los Angeles County delegation, has authored landmark legislation in the areas of criminal justice reform, health care equity, and affordable housing – including the most transformative probation reform law in the country and legislation requiring implicit bias training for health care professionals and court employees.

What’s more, Kamlager secured close to $400 million in state funding for our public health care systems, affordable housing, infrastructure, the arts, and other projects across the district. She has been a staunch supporter of economic investments in and across South L.A. and wants to take that fight to Washington. She views the role in Congress as a continued opportunity to make sure “we leave nothing on the table and keep our communities front and center.”

To her credit, Kamlager currently represents 83% of the voters in the 37^th District, which was revised during the redistricting process. The new South L.A.-based district extends just beyond Century Boulevard at its southernmost point and Olympic Boulevard at its northernmost – and also includes Arlington Heights, Baldwin Hills, Crenshaw, Culver City, parts of Downtown, Harvard Heights, West Adams, Hyde Park, Jefferson Park, Ladera Heights, Leimert Park, Mid-City, Olympic Park, Palms, South Robertson, Southeast L.A., University Park, View Park, Wilshire Vista, and surrounding neighborhoods.