Fil-Am lawyer Jed Leaño eyes seat in California State Assembly

SAN FRANCISCO – The race in California’s 41st Assembly District brings in Filipino American lawyer Jed Leaño, former mayor of Claremont, California, and currently city councilmember.

Leaño is running against Pasadena City Councilmember Felicia Williams, former prosecutor John Harabedian and former Pasadena Police Lt. Dr. Phlunté Riddle to represent the district that includes communities from the foothills of Los Angeles County to the high desert of San Bernardino.

Leaño was elected to the Claremont City Council in 2018, and in 2021 became the city’s second Filipino mayor.

Filipino American lawyer Jed Leaño is running for California’s 41st Assembly District. CONTRIBUTED

He is a son of immigrants from the Philippines. His father grew up in Tondo, Manila, and served as a US Navy serviceman. His mother immigrated to the US as a nurse and worked long hours for 35 years to put Leaño and his two siblings through school.

Their lola and two titas helped raise the Leaño children because their father worked overseas and their mother worked the night shift.

Leaño was exposed to the immense sacrifice that immigrant parents make to give their children a chance to achieve the American Dream. This motivated him to become an immigration lawyer and help give other families a chance to succeed in America.

“The most vivid memory of my childhood and the most important moment of my childhood was in 1989. I was 9-years-old and my parents brought me back to the Philippines for the first time,” Leaño said. “Being there for the very first time, leaving (the) Aquino airport and traveling in a car seeing the abject poverty of the Philippines was the most impactful moment of my childhood.”

Leaño said it was hard for him as a young child to understand poverty. “But when I saw the level of poverty back home, it finally made me understand the sacrifices my mother and father made,” he said. That was the moment that Leaño knew he wanted a career in law and government “to help lift people up out of poverty.”

“I decided to run for office the first time in 2018 because of one reason: homelessness. I looked around me and felt the policies and programming to address homelessness were inadequate,” he said.

“But more importantly, I saw our region needed a champion for the cause. By my second year in office, I reduced homelessness in Claremont by 41 percent. Affordable housing developments are funded and approved because of my leadership in the face of immense adversity.”

As a state legislator, Leaño wants to continue to address housing affordability and homelessness, support small businesses and ensure safe streets and community access to mental health care.

District 41 includes Altadena, Bradbury, Claremont, Duarte, Hesperia, La Cañada Flintridge, La Verne, Lytle Creek, Monrovia, Oak Hills, Pasadena, Phelan, Piñon Hills, Rancho Cucamonga, San Antonio Heights, San Dimas, San Pasqual, Sierra Madre, Upland and Wrightwood.

Meanwhile, Fil-Am community leaders Cynthia Bonta, mother of California Attorney General Rob Bonta, and former Mayor of Cerritos Mark Pulido have urged Fil-Ams to participate in the 2024 elections, to vote for candidates from the community and to hold them accountable while in office.