State Sen. María Elena Durazo will run for LA County Board of Supervisors in 2026

State Sen. María Elena Durazo will run for Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis’ seat in 2026 rather than seek another term in the state Legislature, Durazo’s campaign confirmed on Monday, March 10.

A state lawmaker since 2018, Durazo recently formed a committee to run for Solis’ seat and, without much fanfare, last week posted a two-minute video on YouTube announcing her candidacy for the Board of Supervisors. Her campaign has not issued a press release or held any press conference to make her plans more widely known, and the video had received just 45 views as of late Monday afternoon.

But Steve Veres, who volunteers on Durazo’s campaign when he’s not working in her Senate office as a paid staffer, confirmed Monday that Durazo will indeed run for the L.A. County Board of Supervisors next year. She is seeking to replace Solis, who will be termed out.

Durazo was not immediately available for an interview on Monday.

In her campaign video, Durazo spoke about coming from a family of farmworkers and how she wanted to follow in labor rights leader Cesar Chavez’s footsteps.

“I was always stirring things up, making good trouble,” Durazo said, highlighting the fact that she was arrested over a dozen times for participating in political demonstrations.

After she became a grandmother and a lawmaker, she was arrested again for her activism, Durazo said.

“I guess some things just don’t change,” she said. “But I want to keep changing things. I’m running for L.A. County supervisor so that I can continue to represent everyday people like my family every day.”

According to her biography on her Senate website, Durazo got involved in the Chicano movement while in college in the 1970s, then became a labor organizer. In 2004, she became executive vice president of UNITE-HERE International. Four years later, she became vice chair of the Democratic National Committee and national co-chair of the Barack Obama Presidential Campaign.

From 2006 through 2014, she was the first woman to serve as secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO – the second largest labor council in the nation – and served on the national AFL-CIO Executive Council.

Durazo’s decision not to seek reelection to the state Senate opens the door for other candidates to toss their names in the ring.

On Monday, Los Angeles Community College District Trustee Sara Hernandez said she’ll be running for Durazo’s seat, becoming the first person to formally announce her candidacy for Senate District 26.