Mitch O'Farrell
O'Farrell in 2014
President of the Los Angeles City Council
Acting October 10, 2022 – October 18, 2022
Preceded by	Nury Martinez
Succeeded by	Paul Krekorian
President pro tempore of theLos Angeles City Council
In office October 1, 2021 – October 25, 2022
Preceded by	Joe Buscaino
Succeeded by	Curren Price
Member of theLos Angeles City Council from the13th district
In office July 1, 2013 – December 12, 2022
Preceded by	Eric Garcetti
Succeeded by	Hugo Soto-Martinez
Personal details
Born	1960 (age 64–65) Oklahoma, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Mitch O'Farrell's voice Mitch O'Farrell on his tenure in theLos Angeles City Council Recorded November 23, 2022

Mitch O'Farrell (born 1960) is an American politician, who served as a member of theLos Angeles City Council for the13th district from 2013 to 2022, during which he spent eight days asPresident of the City Council during the2022 Los Angeles City Council scandal. A member of theDemocratic Party, O'Farrell was the first Native American elected to the body, and was one of its two openly gay members until the end of his second term in2022.^[1]

Mitch O'Farrell was born inOklahoma in 1960, and raised in theOklahoma City suburb ofMoore, Oklahoma. He grew up in a farming community. His mother was an administrative assistant and his father was a Teamster truck driver. O'Farrell is a member of theWyandotte Nation, and is the first Native American to be elected to the Los Angeles City Council.^[2][3]

O'Farrell first moved to Los Angeles in 1982 for an audition. During the 1980s, he pursued a career in the arts and was a professional dancer and actor. He has lived inGlassell Park since 1992.

O'Farrell quickly became an active member of the Glassell Park and greater Los Angeles community. Most notably, he was elected President of the Glassell Park Improvement Association and helped form the Glassell Park Neighborhood Council.^{[citation needed]} O'Farrell also served as president of the Northeast Democratic Club, and regularly volunteered at local non-profits including the Wildlife Waystation, Project Angel Food, and the Santa Cecilia Orchestra. In 2002, he was hired by then-Councilmember Garcetti to work in his office, where he remained for ten years. O'Farrell served as a field deputy, deputy director, district director, and finally as senior advisor.^[4]

In 2013, O'Farrell ran for the City Council seat held by Garcetti, where he faced former Public Works Commissioner andlabor activist John Choi. The contest between O'Farrell and Choi was noted for being unusually contentious.^[5] During the campaign, Choi accusing O'Farrell ofxenophobia during the contest over a campaign flier that included "a grainy picture of him above the words "not from our community." O'Farrell responded by saying that "I didn't like it anymore than you did, John" and noted it was from an independent group, but also noted that "[t]he fact is my opponent is new to the district... "I am the local candidate."^[6]

During the campaign, he was endorsed by many elected officials including CouncilmembersEd Reyes of the1st district andTom LaBonge of the4th district.^[7] After a tumultuous campaign, O'Farrell won in the runoff of the election, receiving 53.05% to John Choi's 46.94%.^[8]

O'Farrell was reelected with 59.26% of the vote (17,053 votes) in a wide-open contest.^[9] During the campaign, O'Farrell was endorsed in his reelection bid byMayorEric Garcetti and localchambers of commerce, among other politicians and organizations. Coming in second place was challenger Sylvie Shane, a founding member of the LA Tenants Union, who received 15.07% of the vote.^[10] Jessica Salans, who was endorsed by theGreen Party and would later become chief of staff to CouncilwomanNithya Raman, came in a close third place.

It was speculated that O'Farrell would receive a challenge from aprogressive candidate in the 2022 election.^[11]Police abolitionist Albert Corado, homelessness policy advisorKate Pynoos, andUNITE HERE organizerHugo Soto-Martinez challenged O'Farrell from the left; Sheriff's Deputy Steve Johnson also ran against O'Farrell.^[12]

In October, O'Farrell became Acting President of the City Council for eight days followingNury Martinez's resignation in wake of the2022 Los Angeles City Council controversy.^[13]

O'Farrell conceded the 2022 election to Soto-Martinez on November 15.^[14]

As the first Native American to serve on the Los Angeles City Council, O'Farrell has championed indigenous issues.^[15] He proposed and successfully established the creation ofIndigenous Peoples Day in Los Angeles,^[16] and was endorsed by Chief Billy Friend of the Wyandotte Nation nearly a decade ago, during his 2013 City Council campaign.^[17]

O'Farrell has been a supporter of expanding the City's housing stock, particularly of covenanted affordable housing. During his time in office, over 4,300 units of covenanted affordable housing were built in Council District 13.^[18]

O'Farrell is described as having "spearheaded efforts to remove the camp" of homeless people atEcho Park Lake during a widely-publicized and controversial police-led action to sweep out the unhoused and temporarily close the historically popular city park towards the end of the COVID19 pandemic.^[19] O'Farrell has been criticized for "not doing more to ensure the safety of those living in the encampment".^[20] As head of the City Council's Homelessness and Poverty Committee, O'Farrell has spoken in favor of limiting which sidewalks homeless people would be allowed to sleep on.^[21][22]

After removal of the encampment, O'Farrell's office significantly altered the layout and nature of Echo Park Lake, erecting an enormous security fence enclosing the previously wide-open community park, restricting access to a small number of specific discrete entrances, contracting private security to monitor the park, and adding surveillance cameras that cover "every inch of the park".^[23]

Despite claims by O'Farrell's office that the unhoused residents would be placed into permanent supportive housing, today, out of the 200 or so residents who were swept from Echo Park Lake, only around 9 are in permanent housing. Several have since died, and many more have disappeared from official records.^[24]

O'Farrell has focused on improvinganimal rights. O'Farrell notes that his work has led to the banning of coyote snare traps in Los Angeles, which he describes as "one of his proud accomplishments" in his official biography.^[25]

O'Farrell is openly gay. He resided with his partner George Brauckman inGlassell Park, but moved back to Oklahoma after his defeat.^[25]

• Mitch O'Farrell atBallotpedia

• 1960 births
• 21st-century Native American politicians
• 21st-century California politicians
• California Democrats
• American gay politicians
• American LGBTQ city council members
• LGBTQ people from California
• Living people
• Presidents of the Los Angeles City Council
• Native American city councillors
• People from Moore, Oklahoma
• Wyandotte Nation people
• LGBTQ people from Oklahoma
• 21st-century American LGBTQ people
• Native American LGBTQ people
• Native American people from California
• Native American people from Oklahoma

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