Robert Garcia hammers down Damon Dunn

After securing 52.1 percent of the vote, Robert Garcia edged out Damon Dunn and won the Long Beach mayoral election.

Garcia told the Daily 49er on Wednesday that he is committed to including Cal
State Long Beach students for future plans for the city as Mayor. He emphasized
utilizing and harnessing the creative energy on campus as a means for building a bigger, better Long Beach.

“I want to make sure that we create an internship program within the city, so that
students are also able to participate at greater levels,” Garcia said.

Among many milestones achieved with the new mayor, Garcia is Long Beach’s first
Latino, first gay, and at 36, the youngest person ever to hold the office.

“I’m in this to be mayor of everyone, no matter the age or the color of their skin or
who they love,” Garcia said.

Damon Dunn, who would have been Long Beach’s first African American mayor,
expressed congratulatory sentiments upon conceding the race to Garcia, according
to the Los Angeles Times. Garcia’s 23,296 votes defeated Dunn by 1,898 votes, with
a voter turnout of 17.6 percent.

“The city of Long Beach is lucky to have him. I’m proud of the support we built. But,
this is Robert’s moment and he deserves it,” Dunn said.

During the election, Garcia’s focus centered around consensus building, establishing
his previous experience as vice mayor and 1st district city council member to garner
support from other established local politicians. Garcia gained support from known
political figures such as Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Rep. Alan Lowenthal.
(D-Long Beach)

Dunn’s campaign focused on his business experience, highlighting his time as a real
estate investor looking to use his business oriented expertise to bring more
investment to the city of Long Beach.

The new mayor-elect plans to release a new budget after he takes office on July 15,
according to the Press Telegram.

Both candidates ran hard campaigns, breaking campaign finance records for the city
of Long Beach. Garcia managed to raise over $450,000 for his campaign, while Dunn
invested over $700,000 of his own money to fund his campaign, according to the
Press Telegram. Special interests provided additional financial support to both
candidates, bringing the total amount of campaign expenditures to $1.5 million
dollars.

“I think you run, not necessarily to be the first, I know that there are certainly
historical implications of my election,” Garcia said as he delivered a speech to his
supporters aboard the Queen Mary in an election celebration Tuesday night.

By the time polls closed at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, the margin separating the two
candidates was a slim 117 votes. Votes-by-mail were tabulated late into the night,
the election results were not announced until after 1 a.m. when all 278 of Long
Beach’s precincts were tallied, and Garcia’s lead continued to increase.

Garcia also said he hopes to build a new infrastructure within the city and here on
campus that will incentivize and sustain the “talent that’s coming out of the
university” here in Long Beach.

“For me, a top priority is being involved on campus,” Garcia said of his future plans
for CSULB. “One of our greatest assets is Cal State Long Beach, if you think about it
being the number one applied to Cal State.”