Sebastian Ridley-Thomas Announces Support

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Sebastian Ridley-Thomas announced that he has earned the support of an influential array of Los Angeles area political, community, business, labor and civic leaders.

Ridley-Thomas – a Public Policy Director, community organizer and advocate for consumers, children and small businesses — announced his campaign for the state’s 54th Assembly District on June 25.

“I am gratified by the strong support and encouragement I have received to date from such a broad coalition of elected leaders, such as L.A. City President Herb Wesson, L.A. City Councilmembers Curren Price and Paul Koretz, state Assembly members Steve Bradford and Isadore Hall and former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez,” he said.

To have these leaders place their faith in me is humbling and fuels my drive to be successful in my campaign to represent the interests of the people of the 54th Assembly District,” Ridley-Thomas said.

Ridley-Thomas has also received support from community and business leaders, including L.A. Police Commissioner John W. Mack, longtime community leader Barbara Yaroslavsky, Gary Toebben, president and CEO of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, Cynthia McClain-Hill, past president of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), Areva Martin, president of the nonprofit Special Needs Network, and Armen Ross, president of the Crenshaw Chamber of Commerce.

“I’m also honored to be supported by John Mack – one of our community’s most revered and accomplished leaders for the past 40-years. I’m equally honored to have the support of influential business leaders who are key to creating new jobs in the 54th Assembly District and pushing our local economic forward,” Ridley-Thomas noted.

Among the many prominent religious leaders endorsing Sebastian Ridley-Thomas for Assembly are: Reverend Xavier Thompson, president of the Baptist Ministers Conference of Los Angeles and Southern California; Reverend J. Benjamin Hardwick, senior pastor of Praises of Zion Missionary Baptist Church and president of the Western Baptist Convention; Reverend J. Edgar Boyd, pastor of First African Methodist Episcopal Church (FAME); Reverend Norman Johnson of First New Christian Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church; Reverend Robert Habersham, pastor emeritus of Hamilton United Methodist Church, and Reverend LeSean Tarkington, pastor of St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Ridley-Thomas is campaigning to succeed 54th Assembly District member Holly J. Mitchell. Assemblymember Mitchell announced her candidacy for the 26th Senate District previously held by L.A. City Councilmember Curren Price.

Ridley-Thomas served as policy director for state Senator Curren Price, and as the Senator’s chief liaison to South Los Angeles’ faith-based organizations and served as Deputy Political Director for the California Legislative Black Caucus. He previously served with the Children’s Defense Fund and state Department of Consumer Affairs.

After graduating from Loyola high school in Los Angeles, earning his Bachelors Degree in Sociology from Atlanta’s Morehouse College, completing an internship with Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, and serving as State Senate Fellow through the Center for California Studies at California State University, Sacramento, Ridley-Thomas studied Conflict Resolution and Cross-Cultural Civic Engagement at the University of California, Davis.

Ridley-Thomas follows in the public service footsteps of his mother – Avis Ridley-Thomas, a pioneer in conflict resolution – and his father, Mark Ridley-Thomas, Chairman of the L.A. County Board of Supervisors and founder of the Empowerment Congress, a community-based empowerment movement that has become a model for cities and neighborhoods nationwide.

Sebastian Ridley-Thomas and his twin brother Sinclair – also a graduate from Morehouse College in Atlanta – came of age as students of community engagement and organizing.

Former Culver City Mayor Christopher Armenta has also announced his candidacy for the assembly seat.