Marco Santana

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Marco Santana

Nonpartisan

Elections and appointments

Last election

April 4, 2023

Contact

Campaign website

Marco Santana ran in a special election to the Los Angeles City Council to represent District 6 in California. Santana lost in the special primary on April 4, 2023.

Santana completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. Click here to read the survey answers.

Elections

2023

See also: City elections in Los Angeles, California (2023)

General election

Special general election for Los Angeles City Council District 6

Imelda Padilla defeated Marisa Alcaraz in the special general election for Los Angeles City Council District 6 on June 27, 2023.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Imelda Padilla (Nonpartisan)	55.8	8,547
	Submit photo	Marisa Alcaraz (Nonpartisan)	44.2	6,765

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 15,312
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Nonpartisan primary election

Special nonpartisan primary for Los Angeles City Council District 6

The following candidates ran in the special primary for Los Angeles City Council District 6 on April 4, 2023.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Imelda Padilla (Nonpartisan)	25.7	3,424
✔	Submit photo	Marisa Alcaraz (Nonpartisan)	21.1	2,821
		Marco Santana (Nonpartisan)	18.9	2,524
	Submit photo	Rose Grigoryan (Nonpartisan)	14.9	1,986
		Isaac Kim (Nonpartisan)	10.9	1,455
		Antoinette Scully (Nonpartisan)	5.6	745
	Submit photo	Douglas Dagoberto Sierra (Nonpartisan)	2.9	393

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source 1 Source 2	Total votes: 13,348
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Ely De La Cruz Ayao (Nonpartisan)
• Lanira Murphy (Nonpartisan)
• Wendy Goodman Thum (Nonpartisan)
• Anthony Lopez (Nonpartisan)
• James Thomas (Nonpartisan)
• Ermias Alemayehu (Nonpartisan)
• Jaime Carlos Gallo (Nonpartisan)
• Victoria Del Rosal (Nonpartisan)
• Richard Serrano (Nonpartisan)
• Oscar Portillo Jr. (Nonpartisan)
• Andrew James Ashborn (Nonpartisan)
• Carmenlina Minasova (Nonpartisan)

Campaign themes

2023

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Marco Santana completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Santana's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I was born and raised in the district, have worked in the district for over a decade, and sit on multiple boards located in the district focused on community enrichment - our youth and small businesses. I understand better than anyone that the Valley’s economic priorities are different. Having worked in the district for Congressman Tony Cardenas, and Senator Bob Hertzberg, and worked in the non-profit space for my entire career, I bring a real understanding of what works and what doesn’t. As a Director at a local homeless nonprofit, I bring real experience in dealing with homelessness – the biggest crisis facing our city – that my opponents do not have.

I also don’t want to ignore the reason why we’re having this special election. City politics in Los Angeles has become incredibly divisive. I have always believed the guiding principle of a leader is listening and leading with compassion. I know how to build large coalitions around common-sense ideas and that’s exactly what I will do as the next council member for CD 6.

I think it's safe to say that not only do I know this district and its people really well, but I've been deeply invested in its success.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• I want to make a real dent in addressing our homelessness crisis, both in my district and in the city, by housing as many people as possible into a variety of temporary and permanent housing. In addition, I fully believe in shelter equity across the city/county as we are dealing with a regional issue. If I am elected, we will see a significant decrease in unhoused people in the district by the end of my first term.
• I want to increase investment into our local neighborhoods. Two examples are, we will have the investment of transit lines from the East Valley Light Rail Transit and the Sepulveda Pass Transit Project. We have a real opportunity to create good-paying jobs, attract business interests, and build responsible development along the transit corridor.
• I believe that we need to make real progress on government reform: creating independent redistricting, redesigning the City’s Ethic Commission so it is independent from political pressure, expanding the number of council seats, increased public financing for elections, amending and/or eliminating Section 245, establishing a strong budget with a COLA increase for the City Controller’s office so the City Council cannot use funding to influence, or restrain, the office.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

As someone who has worked in homeless services for several years now, I understand firsthand that homelessness is a complex issue that affects many families in our communities. I believe that we need to do more to address the root causes of homelessness, such as lack of shelters, lack of affordable housing, mental illness, and addiction, and provide comprehensive services to help individuals get back on their feet.

Affordable housing is another critical issue. As a working class Latino man, I know how unaffordable our city has become. I believe that everyone should have access to housing they can afford, and that we need to work to increase the supply of deeply affordable housing options, especially for low-income people.

Creating safe neighborhoods will always be a priority for me. I believe that everyone should feel safe and secure in their communities, and that we need to work together to reduce crime and invest in our broader transit infrastructure to create safe streets.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

See also

2023 Elections

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Candidate

Los Angeles City Council District 6

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