EDITOR'S NOTE: Kenneth Mejia joined "Your Morning" to discuss his campaign for LA City Controller and his top priorities.
LOS ANGELES — In the race for a lesser-known citywide office, Kenneth Mejia had to find a way to inform voters — especially young voters — about the role of the Los Angeles city controller and motivate them to the polls and drop boxes.
“It’s hard to communicate with [young voters] through traditional ways, such as mailers or commercials,” Mejia explained. “You got to do something out of the box.”
Mejia and his team leveraged social media — predominantly TikTok and Twitter — and other nontraditional methods to promote his platform and make complicated financial city data digestible and engaging.
He declared victory over challenger City Councilman Paul Koretz on Nov. 9, marking the end of his progressive campaign to become the financial watchdog of the city.
Mejia, 32, is a longtime organizer and activist with the LA Tenants Union, a critic of the LAPD, anti-encampment laws and Kortez’s handling of the crisis within city animal shelters. Transparency and accountability were guiding themes in the millennial’s campaign, and he said he sees his election as a rejection of the establishment.
In one TikTok, Mejia poked fun at the limitations of the city controller to the tune of Snoop Dog’s “Sensual Seduction,” recreating a viral lip-dub trend. Using text on the screen, he explains that while the controller cannot “defund the police,” or “build affordable housing,” they can “audit City Hall and bring financial transparency.”
Mejia shared the social media spotlight with two adorable recurring characters — his corgis — which have become a sort of campaign mascot. The dogs can be seen in a variety of TikToks, from videos condemning City Hall’s “culture of corruption and racism,” to ones explaining the staunch funding differences between policing and youth development programs.
Off the video app, his campaign was just as unorthodox. Mejia analyzed city data and produced free resources for Angelenos, including an affordable housing map, a City of LA payroll database app, a breakdown of the proposed city budget and even an interactive tool that shows where LA drivers are most likely to get a parking ticket. Mejia created giant campaign billboards throughout the city, sharing his findings. And, of course, he shared them on social media.
Mejia shared many videos of his billboards on TikTok, some of which garnered nearly 350,000 views. In one September video, Mejia posted a billboard plastered with a bar graph depicting the city’s budget priorities with the “Corn Kid’s” viral audio, “I can’t imagine a more beautiful thing,” playing in the background.
Not only has Mejia’s TikTok account generated over 700,000 likes, it also provided a unique, free canvasing tool.
“Our opponent raised a lot more money than us, but knowing how to use social media effectively and using our relational organizing with many of our followers… it worked a lot,” Mejia said.
About 8.3 million young voters aged into the electorate for the midterms, comprising 16% of the 18-29 age group for the 2022 election. And of U.S. adults in that same age group, 26% say they regularly get news on TikTok, according to an October Pew Research Center study.
Michael Ceraso, a political strategist and founder of the communications firm Winning Margins, says Mejia captured a lightning in a bottle with his victory.
“Sometimes candidates come out at the right time, have the right message, have the right gimmick, and then it attracts people from all different backgrounds,” Ceraso said.
Mejia’s position as a political outsider, the prevalence of anti-establishment sentiment in the wake of the LA City Hall racism sandal, combined with Mejia’s progressive messaging and his use of social media generated his success, Ceraso said, adding that generating social media content is not “the winning recipe” for all candidates.
Ceraso believes social media will predominantly reach voters who are already voting, but he says it is effective in generating a greater “number of touches.” Ultimately, a strong infrastructure offline puts candidates in a better position to turn out voters, he explains, especially in a state like California that relies heavily on mail-in ballots.
While Mejia attributes much of his success to social media, his team also had a good ground game, knocking on over 110,000 doors, sending voters letters in the mail and distributing yard signs featuring his fellow TikTok star, one of his corgis.
Whether his out-of-the-box social media strategy or his offline canvassing got them to the polls, Mejia turned out voters in high numbers. Preliminary election results Tuesday showed more voters casting a ballot for Mejia than either candidate for LA mayor.
Mejia made history with his victory, becoming the first Filipino American elected in the city first Asian American to hold citywide elected office in LA.
“I feel very proud and honored to represent our community, especially when you think about what we’re trying to do, is help people — the most vulnerable people,” Mejia said. “And we’re doing that through education and through accountability.”
Mejia said his top priorities as city controller are auditing policing, homelessness spending, housing, the environment and LA Animal Services.