In American politics, we tend to favor the meteoric rise over the slow and steady rise, the big voices that rock the boat over the quiet ones that make themselves known behind the scenes.
Sen. Alex Padilla took the long way around. The San Fernando Valley native and MIT graduate has held elected office since 1999, when he won a seat on the Los Angeles City Council at age 26. In the years since, he has risen to increasingly prominent roles as a state senator and secretary of state. Then, in 2020, his ally, Gov. Gavin Newsom, appointed him to replace Vice President-elect Kamala Harris as a U.S. senator.
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Padilla’s rise was marked by being a consummate team player. He offered a quiet confidence and impressive discipline, and he rarely strayed from the script. Some would call him boring. Now, on the biggest stage in politics as a representative of 40 million Americans, his demeanor has not changed.
But the magnitude of the tasks ahead of him and the crises he faces certainly have. That was made abundantly clear when, shortly before he was handily elected to a full term in 2022, three Los Angeles City Council members were recorded making rude and sometimes racist comments about their colleagues.
Padilla had worked closely with the council members who had committed the crime. He had run one of their campaigns. He had gone to high school with another of them, and his brother had been his chief of staff.
But days after The Times published the story, Padilla took a risk and became one of the first and most prominent elected officials to call on them all to resign.
Being the state's first Latino senator weighed heavily in making the decision, he said.
“I knew them personally and worked with them closely. But as difficult as it was to know them personally and as difficult as it was to know what role I play and where I fit into all this, ultimately what is right is right and what is wrong is wrong.”
Alex Padilla, photographed in the Los Angeles Times in El Segundo on Oct. 9.
His close relationship with then-City Council President Nury Martinez was well known, so his quick stance did not go unnoticed in California political circles. He said that day that he was “horrified by the racist and dehumanizing comments.”
His ties to Martinez and many other Latino politicians underscore his role as one of the architects of a political machine in the San Fernando Valley and beyond. Take, for example, Rep. Tony Cardenas (D-Pacoima), who will not seek reelection this year after nearly three decades in public office. Padilla was a roommate in Washington and managed his first campaign, while the woman running to replace Cardenas — Assemblywoman Luz Rivas (D-North Hollywood) — went to high school and college with Padilla and received his endorsement shortly after announcing her candidacy.
None of this is a coincidence and reflects how the trained engineer has methodically helped his allies in their rise.
Padilla has also filled the void created by the decline and subsequent death of her colleague, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). While in office, Feinstein pushed for billions of dollars to address climate change and fund infrastructure projects.
Padilla, 51, is now picking up that mantle.
“Much of the day-to-day process of getting things up and running takes place behind the scenes,” he said.
