Traci Park

City Councilmember, Los Angeles

How important is the Los Angeles wildfires rebuild to Park? So much so that she stepped away from her role as chair of the 2028 Olympics committee to focus on recovery efforts.

In January 2025, the City Council member for the hard-hit Pacific Palisades area became chair of the ad hoc committee on L.A. Recovery. A Democrat, Park became what the Los Angeles Times called “the face of the recovery for many,” delivering both comfort and blunt calls for action, while Mayor Karen Bass came under fire for her conduct. In office since the end of 2022, Park shocked Palisades residents on a Zoom call when she openly challenged the mayor’s plan to reopen the area — a move that prompted Bass to walk back her decision the next day. 

Once a Republican and widely considered the council’s most conservative voice, Park entered the race after becoming increasingly frustrated with the homelessness crisis in her Venice neighborhood. It was her first bid for elected office. Park is a former 20-year municipal attorney. The first in her family to attend college and then law school, she borrowed heavily to put herself through school before building a career in employment law and rising to partner at Burke, Williams & Sorensen.