With a little more than a year to go, State Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas, representing the 28th District in California, is doing a bit of stretching before setting off to run. Working to be re-elected to her current seat in 2026, she held a modest fundraiser in Culver City on October 11, 2025,. Smallwood-Cuevas had a moment to tout some of the things she’s accomplished, and the list was impressive.
With 17 bills passed this year, addressing needs as diverse as maternal mental health and workplace surveillance technology, Smallwood-Cuevas has been a powerhouse of representation for her constituents. As she spoke to the gathering, she emphasized that much of the work was still in very early stages.
“The budget we passed in Sacramento addressed some crucial basics – we maintained our educational programs, we got $50 million in legal support for our immigrant communities, and we continued support for our [environmentally vulnerable] communities.”
She pressed on the importance of California’s earning power, and how getting better paychecks is central to building a better future. “We looked at affordability … I mean, we can take $2 off your electric bill, but is that what you really need? Things are affordable if, and only if, you can actually afford them.”
She also spoke about tech industries and the expected AI disruption, noting “We need to hold these industries accountable. We need to build a technology and workforce council, one that will give us the place to bring business and labor together to fully integrate this technology with policies that benefits everyone.”
That government needs to address the projected gap was obvious to Smallwood-Cuevas. “I’m on the Workforce Development Board, and when we met with some of these companies – Meta, Nvidia – they were pretty clear that ‘equity was not their burden.’ And we need to address that, because if you create change in an industry, in any industry, it needs to be responsible change.”
With just over a year before her next election, Smallwood-Cuevas is warming up for a serious, solid run.
State Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas represents the 28th District, one of California’s most diverse regions, with nearly one million residents. These communities include Arlington Heights, Baldwin Hills, Carthay, Century City, Cheviot Hills, Crenshaw, Culver City, Del Rey, Downtown Los Angeles, Exposition Park, Florence, Hyde Park, Jefferson Park, Ladera Heights, Leimert Park, Mar Vista, Mid City, Playa Vista, Pico-Robertson, South Los Angeles, USC University Park, Vermont Square, View Park-Windsor Hills, West Adams, Westchester, and West Los Angeles.
Judith Martin-Straw
