Sacramento, CA – Sade Elhawary took the oath of office today as Assemblymember for the 57th District, which includes the communities of Exposition Park, South Los Angeles, and Downtown L.A. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Elhawary is the daughter of Egyptian and Guatemalan immigrants who moved to the U.S. for a brighter future.
A first-time candidate who won her election by more than 61% of the vote, Assemblymember Elhawary was compelled to run when she heard the 2022 leaked recordings of racist remarks made by elected officials from Los Angeles. She said, “I know our folks deserve leaders who unite us, not divide us. Change takes courage and community. And I intend to get right to work bringing people together and helping Californians keep a roof over their heads and food on the table, get their kids a good education, find family-sustaining jobs, become healthier, and live in safer neighborhoods.”
As a teacher and community organizer, Elhawary has worked to build Black and Brown solidarity and tackle issues of equity and social and economic justice. She helped launch the Fremont High School Wellness Center, a model for how to reduce health disparities in medically underserved neighborhoods. And because she knows how urgent the need is to improve mental health services for people facing difficult circumstances, her introductory legislation is a bill that will help meet this need for the unhoused community.
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Assemblymember Elhawary is an educator and founding faculty member of the Nelson Mandela School for Social Justice, where she shaped the school’s collaborative learning environment and student-centered curriculum. As an organizer at Community Coalition, Elhawary mentored and trained young people to become the future leaders of the social justice movement. She holds a bachelor’s degree from UCLA and a master’s from Harvard Graduate School of Education. She shares a home in South Los Angeles with her foster daughter Makailah.
