Openly gay elected mayor of Long Beach makes history three times
Robert Garcia, the newest mayor of Long Beach, made history three times over on Tuesday night: Hes not only the citys youngest mayor ever, but…
Robert Garcia celebrates his victory as the youngest mayor of Long Beach, California. (Photo courtesy: Robert Garcia for Mayor Campaign)
Robert Garcia, the newest mayor of Long Beach, made history three times over on Tuesday night: Hes not only the citys youngest mayor ever, but hes also the first Latino and first openly gay candidate to be elected to that Long Beach office.
Garcia, who beat Damon Dunn in a close race, garnered 52.1 percent of the vote. He currently serves as a City Councilman and vice mayor as well as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Southern California.
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An American Dream
Garcia, whos the first college graduate in his family, immigrated with is family to Covina, California from Lima, Peru at five years-old.
After getting a bachelors degree from Long Beach State, Garcia attended USC for his masters degree, then worked his way onto the Long Beach City Council in 2009.
In his acceptance speech, Garcia alluded to the American Dream aspect of his personal story: To see my mom work so hard, she worked at thrift stores and working at small jobs, cleaning homes, and to see me go to college, be the first in my family to go to college, and now here
The new mayors mother was more direct, noting that she felt like she was actually living the American dream by seeing her son compete for the mayoral office.
Open Minds
According to the city governments website, Long Beach is one of the most diverse metropolitan areas in the nation.
It boasts a population thats 40 percent Hispanic, 29 percent white, 14 percent black, 13 percent Asian and 4 percent other ethnicities.
That diversity was reflected in the mayoral race: while Garcia is making history on three fronts, his opponent Damon Dunn would also have made history as the citys first African-American mayor, had he won.
Many have suggested that Long Beachs makeup was a significant reason behind Garcias ability to win. Garcia himself called Long Beach the best city in America, noting its acceptance of people regardless of race, socioeconomic status or sexual orientation: We have one of the largest Cambodian communities outside of Cambodia, a large Latino community, a large LGBT population, and we have everyone. I really think thats what makes Long Beach strong.
He also stressed that hes in this to be the mayor of everyone, no matter the age or the color of their skin or who they love.
Garcias Plans
According to NBC, Garcia believes that the biggest issues facing Long Beach are fiscal responsibility, growing in an environmentally-friendly manner, bringing in business, and working with employees to improve services.
As a City Council member, Garcia helped to change the path of Long Beachs spending, moving it from enormous debt in 2009 to a surplus as of 2014. In the next few days, he plans to put together a team to examine the citys budget further.
Other early plans include restoring park and library programs that were cut in previous years and partnering with educational organizations to better city services.
Robert Garcia will be sworn into mayoral office on July 15th, 2014.
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