IRVINE, CA – 39-year-old Iranian Irvine native and LGBTQ+ civic leader Alex Mohajer announced his campaign for Irvine City Council on Tuesday, just months after running a historic campaign for the California State Senate in the March 2024 primary. Mohajer will be running in Irvine’s newly drawn 2nd district on a platform of housing affordability, increased access to public transit, mental health and drug/alchohol rehabilitation services, after-school music and arts programs, and clean energy/sustainability. If elected, he will be the only Iranian or Middle Eastern representative on the Council dais, the first openly gay City Councilmember in Irvine history, and the first openly gay Iranian man elected anywhere in the world.
Mohajer’s State Senate campaign raised nearly a quarter of a million dollars, earned nearly 20,000 votes, and won endorsements from across the State.
“Our campaign inspired and activated people and really built a movement,” said Mohajer in a statement. “While we didn’t win that race, it’s clear there’s so much work to do and that we need a new generation of independent leadership, elected from our communities, to get the job done. It would be an honor to carry forward that momentum and represent my hometown on the City Council.”
The son of working-class immigrants who immigrated to the US from Iran, Alex graduated from University High School and Irvine Valley College before attending the University of California, Berkeley for his undergraduate education, where he graduated in 2007. He returned to Orange County for law school and graduated with a J.D. from Chapman University School of Law in 2011. For the past 11 years, he has been working in public service, trying due process hearings and investigating allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination as a Civil Service Advocate for the County of Los Angeles.
Mohajer is a lifelong LGBTQ+ activist and civic leader. He serves as the current Vice President of the Iranian American Democrats of California, and in 2021, he was elected President of the Stonewall Democrats, one of the nation’s oldest LGBTQ+ political advocacy organizations and among the largest Democratic clubs in the state of California. Last year, he was named to Queerty’s #Pride50 list as one of the most inspirational LGBTQ+ voices in the nation, and this Saturday he will be awarded the 2024 Rich Cook Community Bridge Award by the Orange County Gay Men’s Chorus at their annual gala.
Mohajer also said he will serve as an unabashed advocate for working families, who are struggling to make ends meet with rising costs and stagnant wages.
“I know the struggle and sacrifice of families just like mine,” said Mohajer in a statement. “I grew up with a single mom who worked a good, SEIU-paying job for decades so that her four kids could live in a community with access to good public schools. We need to protect workers and fight for pay equity.”
Irvine’s 2nd City Council district covers the Great Park neighborhood, Woodbury, Portola Springs, and portions of the Irvine Spectrum.
More information can be found about Alex and his campaign at www.alexforirvine.com. For
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