Tony Cárdenas (D-Pacoima) is not going to seek reelection in 2024, establishing what might turn out to be a contested race for his closely Democratic San Fernando Valley-based seat.
Cárdenas, 60, who was the primary Latino to signify the district, instructed The Times he plans to go away Washington on the finish of his time period, capping off three a long time in public workplace.
“It will be the first time in 28 years that I’m not on the ballot,” Cárdenas mentioned in a Thursday interview. “The truth of the matter is I thought I could do this just for a few years … I’m just at the age where I have enough energy and experience to maybe do something [different] and have another chapter of a career where I don’t have to go to Washington, D.C., 32 weeks out of the year.”
Cárdenas’ announcement is unlikely to threaten Democrats’ quest to reclaim the House majority. His district, which spans a lot of the San Fernando Valley, is solidly blue. But his departure creates alternatives for formidable younger Democrats from the Los Angeles space to come back to Washington. Cárdenas is backing Luz Rivas, a state Assemblymember who instructed The Times she would run to interchange him.
“Luz is a genuine public servant who has dedicated herself to delivering opportunities for the Valley,” Cárdenas mentioned. “She gets things done, and has always put working families first. I am proud to support Luz for Congress.”
Cárdenas mentioned the dearth of nonwhite illustration amongst individuals in energy was a primary cause he first ran for public workplace. Not having position fashions of colour can stifle nonwhite children’ ambitions for greatness, he mentioned.
“Our teachers, counselors, police officers, would look at us and say you’re never gonna amount to anything,” he mentioned. “I don’t think anyone with those titles should ever tell a child you’re never going to mount anything. But we all experienced that crap, that garbage, those lies.”
Cárdenas was first elected to the Assembly in 1996 at 33. He went on to serve three phrases in Sacramento and received three extra on the Los Angeles City Council. In 2013, he turned the primary Latino to signify the Valley in Congress, handily successful election after redistricting eliminated Rep. Adam B. Schiff’s residence in Burbank from the district.
Cárdenas mentioned he’s happy with the work he’s achieved in his profession, notably his efforts to overtake the state juvenile justice system and ban solitary confinement of minors in federal prisons. As a congressman, Cárdenas was the highest sponsor for greater than 180 payments, three of which turned legislation, together with one in 2021 that addressed crib security for infants.
In Washington, he served on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and spearheaded an effort to convey a Smithsonian Latino Museum to the National Mall. He chaired BOLD PAC, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus’ fundraising arm, and beneath his tenure, the committee’s coffers grew, as did the variety of elected Latinos in Congress.
Cárdenas was unable to ascend into House celebration management in 2020 and final yr, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) bypassed him when choosing the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. In the wake of the #MeToo motion, a lady sued Cárdenas, saying that he had sexually assaulted her when she was a teen. The lady later dropped her lawsuit, which Cárdenas’ attorneys characterised as a “total vindication.”
Cárdenas spoke extremely of now-Sen. Alex Padilla, his shut pal and roommate in Washington. Padilla was additionally his marketing campaign supervisor for his first run for workplace in 1996.
Weeks earlier than election day in 1996, Cárdenas noticed an article in the Los Angeles Times, which was left open on Padilla’s desk. The article, which detailed his marketing campaign’s monetary struggles, left him feeling low, he mentioned.
Soon after, his sister instructed him that their father, Andres, had risked his life to save lots of a person who was trapped in a burning subject in Stockton a long time earlier.
His father by no means shared that story with him whereas he was alive.
“I didn’t need that story at that moment,” he mentioned. But “that day, I needed something. And boom, it came.”
“For the first time in my life, I said to myself, this is my community, this is my country,” he mentioned. “And I’m going to finish this. Whether I win or not, doesn’t matter. I’m going to finish this and I’m going to do it right.”
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