Lola Smallwood-Cuevas

Lola Smallwood-Cuevas is an American politician and a member of the California Senate. A Democrat, she has represented the 28th Senate District since 2022.

Smallwood-Cuevas succeeded the Senate seat vacated by Sydney Kamlager-Dove, who was elected to the seat vacated by Karen Bass after she was sworn in as the Mayor of Los Angeles.

Early life and career Smallwood-Cuevas was raised by a single mother who worked as a registered nurse and homecare worker.

According to The Sacramento Observer, the newspaper which featured her in their fifth installment of their A Powerful Sisterhood series, "Smallwood-Cuevas spent more than two decades serving as a labor organizer, civil rights activist and community advocate".

While working for the UCLA Labor Center, Smallwood-Cuevas founded the Los Angeles Black Worker Center at the University of California, Los Angeles, with the mission of connecting working class black residents of Los Angeles to employment prospects and unionization resources.

Her successful 2022 bid for California State Senate was endorsed by the Los Angeles Times.