Los Angeles County's All-Female Board of Supervisors
As it seems that we might elect the first female President of the United States later this year, I’d like to note that, on a local level, Los Angeles has been led by women for a few years now.
Most people know that the City of Los Angeles elected, Karen Bass, its first female mayor in 2022. However, many people may not know that the County of Los Angeles also has an all-female Board of Supervisors.
LA County is the most populous county in the US, with more than 9.7 million residents, a number exceeded by only 10 states. Approximately one-quarter of all California residents live here. The county includes 88 incorporated cities, covers 4,084 Square Miles, and a has total budget of $45.6 billion.
Since November 2020, when Holly Mitchell won the board’s 2nd District race, the five member Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has been entirely female. The LA County Board of Supervisors had been all male from its inception in 1850 until 1979.
The first woman to serve on the board was Yvonne Brathwaite Burke. In 1979, Governor Jerry Brown appointed Burke to fill a vacancy. Burke was the first female and first African-American supervisor. In 1980, Burke was defeated in her bid for a full term in the seat.
After Burke’s defeat in 1980, there wouldn’t be another women on the board until 1991 when Gloria Molina became first Latina to be elected to the Board of Supervisors. In 1992, Burke ran for the District 2 seat and won, bringing the number of women on the board to two.
The first five-woman Board of Supervisors was Hilda Solis and Sheila Kuehl (elected in 2014), Kathryn Barger and Janice Hahn (elected in 2016), and Holly Mitchell (elected in 2020).
Former actress Sheila Kuehl was the first openly LGBTQ person to ever serve on the Board. In 2022 Lindsey Horvath was elected to replace the retiring Sheila Kuehl, continuing the five-woman board.
Watch the video below for more about these trailblazing women.