A major hotel labor union has picked its favorites for the November City Council race, and two sitting council members didn't make the cut. UNITE HERE Local 11 endorsed Caroline Torosis, Danny Ivanov, Brett Morrow and Doug Trussler for three open council seats, while pointedly opposing incumbents Lana Negrete and Phil Brock.
The union's opposition to Negrete and Brock traces back to a 2021 vote, according to the Santa Monica Daily Press. Both council members supported expanding the Shore Hotel, a non-union oceanfront property owned by Steve Farzam's family, with Farzam himself a former Shore Hotel chief operating officer. UNITE HERE Local 11, which represents more than 32,000 workers in hotels, restaurants, airports, sports arenas and convention centers across Southern California and Arizona, has held numerous protests over the years pushing for unionization at the property.
The Shore Hotel has a long, contentious history with regulators as well as labor. The hotel was constructed without appropriate permits, and the California Coastal Commission hit developer Sunshine Enterprises with a record $15.6 million penalty in May 2019 for opening and operating the 164-room luxury hotel without valid coastal development permits, according to the Los Angeles Times. The commission later voted 7-5 in December 2019 to approve an after-the-fact permit, requiring the owners to designate 72 moderately priced rooms, cap guest parking at $25 per night, waive resort fees on those units, and pay $2.3 million in mitigation fees, the paper reported.
The 2021 Expansion Vote at the Center of the Fight
The 2021 Shore Hotel expansion, with Brock and Negrete among those voting in favor, is the specific action UNITE HERE Local 11 now cites in opposing both incumbents' re-election bids.
Danny Ivanov, currently a rent control board member, was endorsed by the union for enforcing the city's rent-control protections as rent control board chair, per the Santa Monica Daily Press. Mayor Caroline Torosis was endorsed in part for protecting Santa Monica Pier workers' jobs when restaurants change ownership. Doug Trussler, meanwhile, was endorsed despite disagreements with the union on some issues, with the paper describing his outlook as a pro-union vision of business and labor succeeding together. Brett Morrow, who worked on the staff of then-congressman Keith Ellison — described by the union as a labor champion and now Minnesota's attorney general — rounds out the slate.
A Fractured Field of Eleven Candidates
Eleven candidates ultimately qualified to compete for the three open City Council seats on the November 3 ballot, organized largely into two rival slates, according to the Santa Monica Lookout. One slate is led by Torosis; the other by Negrete alongside Ashley Oelson and Doug Trussler, while Brock is identified as an independent candidate. Santa Monica Forward endorsed Torosis, Eli Gill and Brett Morrow, while Santa Monicans for Renters' Rights backed Torosis, Ivanov and Morrow. The renters' rights group's steering committee later added Morrow to its campaign materials after its general membership failed to settle on a third candidate.
The Santa Monica Police Officers Association and Santa Monica Firefighters IAFF Local 1109 have endorsed Negrete, calling it an initial pick and indicating additional endorsements would follow in coming weeks, per the Santa Monica Daily Press. In a rare crossover, Communities for Excellent Public Schools endorsed both Torosis and Negrete — leaders of the two competing slates — while declining to back a third candidate for the open seat, according to Santa Monica Next.
Even the Santa Monica Democratic Club couldn't reach consensus on the council race. The club failed to endorse any candidates in July after votes split between the rival slates, falling short of the 55% threshold required for endorsement, per the Lookout. The same fractured dynamic played out on Measure ES, the Excellent Santa Monica Public Schools parcel tax: the club declined to endorse the $495-per-parcel measure, estimated to generate $12 million annually for schools, after a 52% to 44% vote missed the 55% bar.
Rent Control Measures Draw Broader Consensus
Despite the split on candidates and the school tax, the Democratic Club found common ground on tenant protections, voting to endorse three rent-control charter amendments — Measures GG, RR and VV — that address eviction protections, according to Patch. Measure RR specifically limits evictions tied to small unpaid rent balances. All city measures on the ballot require only a simple majority to pass.
Santa Monica voters will weigh five city measures total on November 3, including Measure TT, which would apply transient occupancy tax during designated major events. The ballot also features four contested local board races, with candidates vying for four Santa Monica College Board of Trustees seats, four Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education seats, and three rent control board seats.
The union's endorsements land against a backdrop of ongoing friction between UNITE HERE Local 11 and Santa Monica's development politics. The union backed a March ballot initiative seeking to override Measure LC, the voter-approved 2014 charter amendment restricting the former airport site to park and recreational uses, as Hoodline previously reported. Separately, the city struck a deal with the California Coastal Commission in June to complete a certified Local Coastal Program by late 2027, seeking a more predictable and efficient path for coastal-zone projects.
Key Dates for Santa Monica Voters
Los Angeles County's Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk will begin mailing vote-by-mail ballots to all registered voters no later than October 5, when drop boxes also open. Voters must register to receive a mailed ballot by October 19, though conditional registration and voting remains available after that date through Election Day. Vote centers open October 24, and polls close at 8 p.m. on November 3. Los Angeles County must certify the results by December 3.
