Growing up, Los Angeles native Miguel Santiago did his best to value his parents’ hard work and sacrifices. Santiago’s parents moved to the U.S. from Teuchitlán, in the Mexican state of Jalisco, but went back and forth between the two countries while he was still young. His father worked as a janitor and his mother worked as a maid for years to support their family, eventually settling down in LA for good.
“They had a profound impact [on me] because they were extremely hardworking people who struggled to pay for their rent and put food on the table,” Santiago said.
Santiago remembered the experiences from this arduous journey while he attended UCLA, served as a trustee of the LA Community College Board, and in 2014 when he was elected to the State Assembly.
After 10 years representing Los Angeles in the legislature, Santiago believes he is ready to run for the CD14 seat. His Assembly District 54 encompasses Boyle Heights, Downtown LA, Koreatown, Pico-Union, and other areas.
He has currently received endorsements from organizations such as the LA County Democratic Party and the Central City Association of Los Angeles.
Santiago’s track record, he says, speaks for itself. Some of his achievements as an assemblymember include authoring legislation that makes community college free for eligible students, advocating for protections for Dreamers and DACA recipients, and co-authoring a bill allowing cities and counties in California to establish public banks of their own.
“When you look at the district that I represent, we’ve got to give it our all to make sure that we fight for every single person, particularly those who are more in need of government than ever before,” Santiago said. “When we push or we fight for policies, it’s about helping those like me who had that lived experience.”
Santiago and his wife and children currently live in Boyle Heights, which he says gives him a unique ability to represent this neighborhood. “It’s where I live, It’s where I enjoy raising my family.” He enjoys holding conversations with other residents while jogging around Evergreen Cemetery, shopping in the community, and visiting local restaurants. It’s not uncommon to see Santiago at Resurrection Church or Dolores Mission.
In the past, Santiago met with community groups at Resurrection Church to discuss the former Exide Technologies battery recycling facility in the neighboring city of Vernon. Years of negligent work practices produced lead contamination in the soil, negatively affecting residents in the surrounding area. Community organizers’ persistence motivated the assemblymember in 2015 to author Assembly Bill 118, ensuring soil testing within a 1.7-mile radius of Exide.
Santiago says that his constituents see him as a neighbor, someone they can hang out and converse with. “I always try to make myself accessible,” Santiago said.
If elected, Santiago says he’s willing to keep his same level of engagement and that the new position will allow him to work on the issues his neighbors talk about. “I want to do something to help my community and it starts by fighting for the things that are important for our neighbors,” he says.
According to Santiago, he aims to prioritize affordable housing without displacing current tenants. He wants to make sure that tenant protections are strong enough to prevent unfair evictions to ensure housing for everyone. “I will fight with everything I’ve got to make sure that people are not displaced from the neighborhoods they grew up in,” he said.
When Boyle Heights Beat asked him whether he supported or opposed the controversial Tiao Properties development project on César Chávez Avenue, Santiago said he didn’t know enough about the issue to offer an informed opinion.
“I will fight with everything I’ve got to make sure that people are not displaced from the neighborhoods they grew up in.”
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The homelessness crisis is another critical issue that Santiago wants to address but in an interview with BHB in December he did not specify how he would handle it.
He also supports Mayor Bass’ approach toward public safety. Bass has plans to combine public health strategies with traditional policing to reduce violence while increasing pay for LAPD officers. Santiago believes in more unarmed responses and that “not every call should be a police officer [showing up],” he said.
He is also seen as the frontrunner in this year’s election. In a previous interview with Boyle Heights Beat, political sciences professor Dr. Fernando Guerra says he expects Santiago to perform well but doesn’t count anyone out. “I think the frontrunner is Miguel Santiago followed by Wendy [Carrillo]. But given the way things can unfold, it wouldn’t shock me if Kevin de León came in second,” Guerra said.
Santiago has received the most campaign donations to date, outpacing fellow Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo and current Councilmember Kevin de León. Some of those donations are from CD14 residents, trade unions like Sprinkler Fitters UA Local 79, and major companies such as Reyes Coca-Cola Bottling.
Santiago also received a $900 donation from Hawaiian Gardens Casino, a local Casino company based in the small city of Hawaiian Gardens. In 2019, Hawaiian Gardens Casino paid over $3 million to the state of California for violating the Bank Secrecy Act. The company consistently failed to disclose all its earnings to federal regulators.
When asked about this specific donation, he avoided the controversy and said he remains committed to providing quality representation to the residents of CD14. “What I would say is this, my record speaks for itself on fighting for issues of affordable housing and tackling inequality,” Santiago said.
