Immigrant Power Topples GOP Stronghold in Nixon’s Hometown

Whittier, a majority-Latino suburb southeast of Los Angeles and the birthplace of Richard Nixon, has long been a Republican holdout in local government. Despite a demographic shift that made the city reliably Democratic in statewide and national elections, GOP politicians maintained control of the city council, aided by off-cycle municipal elections that kept voter turnout low — especially among younger Latino residents.

That all changed this spring. After a string of aggressive Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids last summer, which saw masked agents arresting workers at local businesses and even outside City Hall, the community’s simmering anger boiled over. Protesters demanded the city council restrict ICE’s activities and ban agents from covering their faces during arrests on public property. The conservative council majority refused.

“We expected the city council to do something to make us safer, and we did not receive that response,” said Renee Lorenzo of Organize Whittier, a coalition formed in response to the raids. This inaction galvanized a wave of grassroots organizing led by groups like the Whittier Latino Coalition, which mobilized voters, hosted candidate forums, and trained community members to run for office.

The results were historic. Voter turnout in the April 14 local elections doubled previous years, propelled by Latino voters fed up with the status quo. James Becerra, an urban planner and Democrat, won the mayor’s race with 67 percent of the vote, while Aida Macedo and Vicky Santana secured city council seats, flipping the five-member council to a liberal majority and creating Whittier’s first Latino-majority city council.

“This is historic for a city like Whittier,” said Angie Medina of the Whittier Latino Coalition. “People that hold policymaking positions should reflect the community.” The new leadership plans to revisit the rejected ICE ordinance and push to align local elections with state and federal cycles to boost turnout and dismantle the entrenched power structure.

The political upheaval also forced the resignation of a controversial planning commissioner caught mocking immigrants in a costume party photo, signaling a broader cultural shift in the city’s governance.

Whittier’s transformation is part of a larger trend across heavily Latino districts nationwide, where immigrant organizing and resistance to authoritarian policies are driving unprecedented political engagement and upending long-standing power dynamics. As Lorenzo put it, “The raids have escalated everything. That is fueling people to the polls.”

This victory in Nixon’s hometown is a clear message: communities targeted by ICE and voter suppression are fighting back — and winning.