LOS ANGELES, CA – Sixteen candidates are competing for three seats on the board that governs the Los Angeles Community College District in the Nov. 3 general election, with many promising to expand student housing, job training and help with students’ basic needs.
Voters will fill Seats 2, 4 and 6 on the seven-member Board of Trustees on Tuesday, Nov. 3. The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s candidate statements tool lists five names for Seat 2, seven for Seat 4 and four for Seat 6.
Trustees are elected at large and do not represent a specific area. There is no primary or runoff: the candidate with the most votes in each seat wins, and all district voters weigh in on all three races.
The district covers about 900 square miles and includes the city of Los Angeles, Culver City, Montebello and Burbank. The district’s board members page describes the district as representing more than 250,000 students at nine community colleges, with students from 40 cities.
The same page lists Sara Hernandez as board president, Andra Hoffman as first vice president and Steven Veres as second vice president. The other members listed are Gabriel Buelna, Nichelle Henderson, Kelsey Iino and David Vela. Board leadership positions are elected each year at the December organizational meeting.
Candidates agree on basic needs and jobs
Across the three races, candidates largely agree that district leaders need to do more to meet the basic needs of students and to connect graduates with good-paying jobs. Candidates cite housing, food assistance and career pathways as the areas where the district should act.
A Spring 2025 district survey reported that 54% of LACCD students experienced food insecurity and 65.4% experienced housing insecurity. A voter guide says nearly 1 in 5 LACCD students experience homelessness each year.
Those figures frame a campaign season in which the district is also managing a large construction program and a stalled student housing effort. Each race has its own mix of incumbents, newcomers and endorsements.
Seat 2: Veres faces three challengers
In Seat 2, incumbent Steve Veres is challenged by writer Robert Payne, business owner Kristina Irwin and educator Adriana Cabrera. Roy Payan also appears on the ballot but has said he suspended his campaign.
Veres said in a candidate questionnaire response that during his 13 years on the board he strengthened job training programs, improved graduation rates and helped push to give students free and discounted food and emergency housing shelter.
Veres works as staff director and policy advisor for state Sen. Maria Elena Durazo, who is set to join the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. He is endorsed by Durazo, Mayor Karen Bass, the county Democratic Party, four trustees and the district’s faculty and staff unions.
Between Sept. 20 and Oct. 17, a campaign committee sponsored by the faculty union paid for nearly $150,000 in slate mailers supporting Veres, according to campaign finance records. An online campaign finance database shows no contributions to Payne, Irwin or Cabrera.
Seat 4 is open with seven candidates
Seat 4 has no incumbent because Hernandez is stepping down to run for state Senate. The candidates are Darryn Harris, Nancy Pearlman, Adam Bruno, Elaine Alaniz, Priscilla Umana, Isidro Armenta and Jason Aula.
Harris, a government and community affairs officer at St. John’s Community Health, is the best-funded candidate in the race. He recently began teaching a student skills class at Santa Monica College, which is not part of the district, and has the backing of labor unions and six of the seven current trustees.
Pearlman is an environmentalist and a former board member. Bruno is a therapist, Alaniz a healthcare workforce specialist, Umana a sign language educational interpreter, Armenta a fire department employee and Aula a business owner.
Seat 6 pits incumbent against deputy mayor
Seat 6 features incumbent Gabriel Buelna against Randall Winston, Bass’ deputy mayor for infrastructure and climate resilience. Tonia Arey, a realtor, and Roberto David LaCarra, a community college professor, are also running.
Winston says he would bring large-project experience to oversight of the district’s bond program. He calls for public dashboards and transparency on change orders, and he supports speeding up affordable student housing.
Buelna favors accelerated housing development and more in-language courses. He co-sponsored a March 2026 board resolution that gave foster youth priority in district housing.
The faculty union, AFT Local 1521, endorsed Winston, saying it wanted to go in a different direction. The clerical and technical staff guild endorsed both Winston and Buelna. Winston’s listed endorsements include the county Democratic Party, the faculty and staff guilds, Bass and trustees Hoffman, Veres and Vela.
Buelna and Arey have criticized Winston for listing “architect” as his ballot occupation. Winston said the title seemed to resonate the most with voters and that architecture is his first professional degree.
Measure LA bond drives the construction agenda
The next board will oversee the Measure LA bond voters approved in 2022. The district’s BuildLACCD page says the measure was approved “to provide $5.3 Billion to improve infrastructure, athletic fields, technology, and pre-1970s buildings.”
The same page says the total investment approved by Los Angeles voters is $14.9 billion for learning environments at each of the district’s nine colleges. About $500 million of the Measure LA bond is earmarked for student housing.
Trustees also oversee a district budget of about $9.9 billion. They serve four-year terms.
Student housing solicitation canceled
On March 5, the district issued a request for qualifications and proposals for purpose-built student housing at Pierce College in Woodland Hills and Los Angeles City College in East Hollywood. The district was prepared to contribute up to $75 million in Measure LA funds per campus, or up to $150 million in total.
The solicitation followed a March board resolution and set a goal of reserving 20 percent of units for students who have experienced foster care. The effort was expected to bring 800 to 1,600 beds to the two campuses.
In early September, the district canceled the solicitation and rejected all bids. A losing developer had alleged that the process favored a firm whose executives donated at least $11,000 combined to the campaigns of trustees Hernandez and Hoffman.
A regular board meeting listed for Sept. 2 was cancelled, and a housing vote had been scheduled for that meeting.
District and board president respond
The district said it canceled the process out of an abundance of caution and will start a new competition to build student housing. LACCD spokesperson Juliet Hidalgo said the district would move forward deliberately while seeking high-quality affordable housing for students.
Hernandez, the board president, said the donations from the executives were in full compliance with ethics and campaign finance laws. No date has been set to restart bidding.
Separately, 56 students from East Los Angeles College have been placed in housing through a partnership with Cal State LA.
How the board meets and how students can vote
The Board of Trustees generally meets once a month on a Wednesday, with public sessions beginning at 1 p.m. Those meetings are where housing contracts and bond decisions come before the board.
The district also publishes a voting information page for students ahead of the November election.
Election date is Nov. 3
The three winners will join the board that decides how the district restarts its student housing competition and carries out the Measure LA construction program. Voters decide Seats 2, 4 and 6 on Nov. 3, and the candidate with the most votes in each seat wins.
