is one of the most loved Ranchera In Mexico, it’s a ballad that is as simple as it is profound, as proud as it is warning.

“El Hijo del PuebloAbout an hour before Imelda Padilla’s election night party, as I was enjoying a carne asada dinner, Vicente Fernandez’s “Son of the People” came from the speakers of the Chiguacuru Sábor Ancestral in Sun Valley. ‘ was playing.

The 35-year-old had not yet arrived. She was making last-minute calls to undecided voters to win the special election run-off ballot for District 6 of the City Council. Her seat was long held by Nuri Martinez, whose career collapsed last fall, and recordings of her and others making racist remarks have leaked. rear.

“I’m proud to have been born/I was born in the humblest neighborhood“El Hijo del Pueblo”.

“Away from the hustle and bustle / from a false society.”

The Padilla campaign didn’t pick a theme song, but it could have been.

Written by José Alfredo Jiménez, this song is a hymn to those who cling to the working class and do not want to join those in power. Padilla, 35, threw herself into her opponent Marisa Alcaraz as a national woman.

The election was expected to be a close one as the candidates are very similar. They’re Valley guys who left home just to attend school at the University of California and came back to make Los Angeles better. Alcaraz works on the staff of City Councilman Karen Price, and Padilla works as a community organizer in the northeastern San Fernando Valley. Both are Democrats belonging to the liberal moderates in Los Angeles. Both worked for scandal-ridden city councilors, but Alcaraz represented Richard Alarcon, whose voter fraud conviction was overturned by an appeals court in 2016, and Padilla said Martinez. acted on behalf of Mr.

The only difference between them is where they chose to focus their careers. Alcaraz chose City Hall and Padilla stuck to the area around the Valley. When interviewed on the same day in the Plaza del Valle, Panorama City’s mega-shopping center where each is based in a campaign office, their contrasting knowledge of the neighborhoods they intend to represent was evident. Outspoken, Padilla used English and Spanish in equal proportions to tell story after story about each tenant and street. Alcaraz couldn’t do that. Because she was terribly inexperienced.

“I have no shame in not being the son of the people.”

By the time Padilla turned up to Chiguakur to a thunderous applause shortly after the poll closed, she had climbed 13 points in the rankings.

“What a great start, isn’t it?” she said, genuinely overwhelmed by the accolade. “Thank you for coming. Let’s socialize!”

It was more like a homecoming than a victory celebration, a San Fernando Valley version of “This is Your Life.”

Some were nonprofit leaders like Myra Todd, who runs an organization that helps victims of domestic violence. She held Padilla to the bear while the two had a happy dance. “Imelda is what our community has been waiting for,” said the Van Nuys resident. “We want to work with her to remind her of the promises she made. She’s lived our lives, so I don’t think she’s going to be a scammer.”

Community activist Severiana Pablo Reyes, who has known Padilla for 19 years, recalled when she called 311 about a mosquito-infested puddle in Rosa Parks Learning Hills in the North Hills. Padilla, who was working under Martinez at the time, appeared 15 minutes later. “She never says, ‘It can’t be done,'” says the Panorama City resident. “She always says, ‘Let’s see how we can do it.'”

Legendary San Fernando High School government teacher Alex Leather, whose former students include U.S. Senator Alex Padilla, Martinez, and other Valley Latino leaders, sits in Siguacle’s expansive dining room and patio. I hugged Mr. Padilla while walking little by little. Although she attended a different high school, the two hosted youth leadership conferences for Latino teenage boys for many years.

“She knows what a normal hardworking family goes through,” he said. “Hey, Imelda has it”Sisepde‘ Spirit. “

Former opponents also paid tribute. Rose Grigoryan, who finished fourth in April’s primary, sided with Padiya, especially after a pro-Alcaraz mailman sent to an Armenian family used Grigoryan’s photo to imply support. stood.

“After getting to know Imelda personally, I not only made the right choice, but I made a beautiful one,” she said. “Council is not a position for her. It is a mission.”

Lalo Lopez was initially rooting for third-placed Marco Santana, but after the two met at lunch, he accompanied Padilla and she “won my heart”. Not only did the businessman successfully organize his fundraiser, but on the morning of the election, he used his connections to get the candidate to appear on Don Cheto’s popular Spanish-language radio show.

“She’s the pick, brother,” Lopez said before heading to the bar. “La Campiona del Pueblo”

People’s Champion.

Supporters greet Los Angeles City Council No.

(Allen J. Charben/Los Angeles Times)

”How many millionaires/would you like to live my life?”

This lyric especially stuck with me when I saw the political class approach Padilla like a mounted lord to kiss the new queen’s ring.

Valley Congressman Brad Sherman and Tony Cardenas. City Council members John Lee, Tracy Park and Marquese Harris Dawson. Los Angeles County Superintendent Lindsey Horvath and State Treasurer Fiona Marr. There were young campaign strategists who appeared to be wearing the same uniform of sports coats, jeans and fancy sneakers. Enrique Vera and James Acevedo, the godfathers of the Valley’s Latino political machine a generation ago. Acevedo wore a perfectly ironed, dazzling white guayabera that made him look like Albert Schweitzer of Chicano.

It wasn’t just man power that helped Padilla build a commanding early lead. According to her campaign finance report through June 21, she marginally outperformed Alcaraz, but her own spending trailed her by $639,000 to $480,000. A postman pasted a picture of Alcaraz next to a smiling Alarcon, taken from a column I wrote earlier this year. A door hanger had a portrait of Padilla smiling on one side, and a photograph of Price and Alcaraz, surrounded by references to the felonies recently filed against Price.

“I’m writing my own song/so people can sing it.”

The atmosphere at Chiguakul’s party was so lively that most of the audience didn’t stop talking when the short program started around 9:30. They ignored Cardenas and the shamans, and Father Walter Paredes of the Church of Mary Immaculate, Pacoima recited the Lord’s Prayer in Spanish, saying, “Deliver us from evil,” before giving Padilla his blessing. I chanted for a long time, but there was no response.

When Padilla, tired but grinning, finally took the stage the size of a coffee table, the room was still not very quiet. She admitted to being “a little nervous and overwhelmed,” but regained her composure, noting that her special election situation “was not what the community was excited about.”

Instead of presenting a vision, she wanted to show her appreciation. Pueblo. To the trade unions who backed Alcaraz after the powerful Los Angeles Labor Confederation. her family. Her political team swarmed the small stage and Padilla nearly disappeared. Her pediatrician was in the audience and cured Padilla of childhood rickets.

Armenian. El Salvadorian. Sikh.A group of middle-aged Latino women who she knocked on doors for hours each day and declared her “the most Chingonas [badass women] in the world. “

“I think we can enjoy the celebration!” Padilla concluded as everyone roared.

Father Walter Paredes of Mary Immaculate Church in Pacoima congratulated District 6 candidate Imelda Padilla at an election night party.

(Allen J. Charben/Los Angeles Times)

I asked Padilla how she felt before she returned to the wishers.

“I’m so tired, but I’m honored,” she replied, stopping to smile at someone’s selfie. She won’t have much time to rest. If she maintains her lead, she will be seated as soon as the Los Angeles County Voter Registration Office certifies her election and the city council accepts the results. She then has to start her campaign again. Seats in District 6 will run for regular elections next spring.

What does the frenzied public in front of her mean?

“It means you have a strong foundation to get the job done.”

Finally, how can she sustain this positive moment? Will they repel?

She didn’t stop or flinch. “I just need to stay involved with everyone who got me this far,” she said.

Padilla thanked me and was yanked in all directions and disappeared into the crowd. I thought about the last line of “El hijo del pueblo,” which she should hang in her new office. This is a prophecy of the future that she hopes will never come across.

“And on the day they betrayed me,
I will cry that day. ”