Kenneth Mejia

Kenneth Mejia (born November 7, 1990) is an American activist, accountant, and politician, serving as the City Controller of Los Angeles since 2022. Mejia was a three-time candidate for the United States House of Representatives in California's 34th congressional district, prior to his candidacy and subsequent election as City Controller in 2022.

Elected to succeed Ron Galperin, Mejia is the first Filipino American elected official in the city of Los Angeles, the first Asian American elected to a citywide office, the youngest, and the first nonwhite person to hold the position of City Controller in over a century.

Early life and career Mejia is Filipino-American and was born and raised in Los Angeles. Mejia graduated from Woodbury University in two and a half years, finishing in 2010 with a B.S. in accounting. He worked at Ernst & Young but left in 2014. He then worked for a hedge fund according to his Twitter account, which he left May 6, 2016, to focus on his campaign. In 2016, he co-founded We Can Make a Difference, a community volunteer organization that provided food and hygiene items to low-income and homeless people in Los Angeles. Mejia is a member of the Los Angeles Tenants Union.

Early political campaigns

California's 34th congressional district Mejia was inspired by the 2016 presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders to engage more in politics, leading him to become a candidate to the California delegation to the Democratic National Convention. Mejia was a write-in Democratic Party candidate in California's 34th congressional district in 2016.

Having grown disenchanted with the Democratic Party, Mejia ran as a U.S. Green Party candidate in the same district in 2017 and 2018. His 2017 bid was noted for its reliance on small-dollar donations. Mejia's 2018 bid advanced to the general election and yielded more than 40,000 votes, setting the record for the highest vote percentage cast for any Green candidate against a Democrat for Congress. Mejia continued to work as an accountant while campaigning in 2018.

Los Angeles City Controller (2022—present)

Elections 2022

Mejia announced his candidacy for City Controller, a nonpartisan office, in the 2022 Los Angeles elections. He was the only city candidate in 2022 to receive ballot access through signatures alone.

On June 7, 2022, Mejia took first place in the primary for LA City Controller, with over 230,163 votes. He obtained 42.75% of the vote, while opponents Paul Koretz and Stephanie Clements obtained 23.83% and 16.01%. On November 8, 2022, Mejia won the general election in a landslide with 62% of the vote, defeating Koretz. Mejia received the most votes of any controller candidate in city history.

2026

Mejia ran for re-election in 2026, and initially faced opposition from former state senator Isadore Hall III and capital management executive Zach Sokoloff, before Hall withdrew. Despite Sokoloff gaining the endorsement of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party, Mejia defeated Sokoloff in the primary, earning 63.00% of the vote, and securing a second term as Controller.

Tenure Mejia appointed Rick Cole to serve as his Chief Deputy Controller and Sergio Perez to serve as Chief of Accountability and Oversight. Cole is an Urban Studies professor and was the former mayor of Pasadena and deputy mayor for Los Angeles. Sergio Perez left his position as the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's Inspector General to serve.

In November 2025, Mejia announced that he had left the Democratic Party in January 2024 and would not seek their endorsement (nor the Republican Party's) for his 2026 reelection campaign, stating: "I couldn’t support a party that preferred to spend our tax dollars on bombs while Americans struggle to put food on the table." The accompanying video referenced American support for Israel in the war in Gaza. It was later confirmed that he had rejoined the Green Party.

Electoral history

2016 California's 34th congressional district election

2017 California's 34th congressional district special election

2018 California's 34th congressional district election

2022 Los Angeles City Controller election

2026 Los Angeles City Controller election