Pasadena Councilwoman Felicia Williams will vie for the 41st State Assembly seat that will become open with longtime incumbent Assemblyman Chris Holden terming out.
Williams was elected to the Pasadena City Council in 2020 to represent District 2, which is bounded roughly by Lake Avenue, Colorado Boulevard Craig Avenue, and Lexington Avenue. She was appointed vice mayor last December.
California’s 41st State Assembly District is anchored by Pasadena and encompasses San Gabriel Mountain and foothills communities.
Williams said she wanted to run for higher office because she felt the council’s hands were tied on major issues, and found she could probably help the city more on the state level than on the City Council.
“As I look through all of the major crises that we are dealing with, they are state problems,” Williams said. “A lot of times our hands are tied as to what we can do as council members with affordable housing funding, with homelessness, with the environment, because of state legislation that has either tied our hands or has limited our options.”
Williams said if elected, her priorities would be land use and planning, the environment, and financing infrastructure.
She also addressed criticism that her governing record has been more conservative than her campaign, in which she picked up several endorsements from major Democratic party elected officials, including Congressmembers Judy Chu and Adam Schiff, and Assemblyman Chris Holden.
Williams also changed her party registration from a Democrat to No Party Preference just before she took office.
“All of that was done to best serve all the people in the city,” she said. “I feel that through my council work I have been able to listen to different opinions, to come up with compromises and that’s really how I view my work here and how I would expect to do it in the legislature.”
She listed a recent vote to declare a climate emergency and set a goal of sourcing the city’s electricity from carbon-free sources, which she worked on as chair of the municipal services committee, among her major accomplishments.
According to state election filing records, the Felicia Williams for Assembly 2024 committee received $5,500 from the Anthony Portantino for Senate 2020 committee on Jan. 25.
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