Mary Zendejas was sworn in Tuesday night during the first Long Beach City Council meeting of December, less than a month since she was victorious in a special election held Nov. 5.
Zendejas was heralded by her new council colleagues for her decades of work in the community of West Long Beach, the area which she will now represent as the city’s 1st District City Council representative.
Excited to get to work on behalf of the residents of the 1st District and the entire City of Long Beach! pic.twitter.com/Rk3ioRPLhQ
She won the November special election by capturing just over 31% of the vote (858 votes) and outpaced her closest competitor by about 160 votes. In total 2,723 ballots were counted for the election that filled the seat vacated by now state Sen. Lena Gonzalez who also won a special election in June.
Gonzalez left for the state senate with over three years remaining on her term that began in 2018. She was appointed to a second term as the 1st District City Council representative after no one filed to run against her in 2018 so Zendejas will serve out the rest of her term that expires in July 2022.