Senate District 24 candidates John Erickson and Brian Goldsmith addressed the Mid City West Neighborhood Council. (photos courtesy of John Erickson and Brian Goldsmith campaigns)

The Mid City West Neighborhood Council hosted a candidate forum for the Senate District 24 race on Sept. 22. Candidates Brian Goldsmith and West Hollywood City Councilman John Erickson joined Mid City West Neighborhood Council Renters Representative Josh Rothstein, Youth Representative Sonya Turoff and other members of the Neighborhood Council to discuss their stance on “hate crimes, hate speech and bias-motivated violence.”

“We organized this forum for two main reasons: ongoing community interest and election fairness,” Rothstein said. “The forum served three clear goals. First, to provide transparent voter education. Second, to connect state legislative authority directly to local city execution. Third, to produce a formal civic record.”

Goldsmith said whoever fills the seat has “big shoes” to fill, referring to the current Senate District 24 representative, Ben Allen, who has served the district since 2014. He then spoke about his background as a journalist and the work he did covering Trump’s first term.

“I learned how to hold people in power accountable, and I think those are important qualifications for someone running for the legislature,” Goldsmith said. “When I was covering Trump’s first term and saw the damage he was doing both to our democracy and to our economy, I felt that just covering him wasn’t enough. I had to step up and get in the fight as an advocate.”

Goldsmith said he went to work for Pete Buttigieg, the former United States Secretary of Transportation and former Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, on his 2020 Presidential campaign.

“I’m running because we’re at a critical moment right now in California, where we have to use every tool to stand up to Trump,” Goldsmith said. “Because we have to be honest that California hasn’t done a good enough job of translating our good intentions, our policy priorities, into results that people can actually see, so that they’re safer, life is more affordable and they’re getting better services.”

Erickson introduced himself as a West Hollywood City Council member in his second term and a former mayor. He said the focus on hate crimes for this candidate forum was personal to him, and shared that when he was in college, he was a victim of a hate crime for being an openly gay athlete.

“It’s really important that we make sure we elect people who are champions for these communities, whether it’s antisemitism or LGBTQ and trans communities, our Muslim brothers and sisters, our Asian AAPI – beautiful big communities that we have,” Erickson said. “Hate is on the rise because it is being fronted by the dictator in the White House, and something that we see coming down to the ugliest parts of our local politics.”

Erickson shared his history of advocacy work in the town where he grew up, Madison, Wisconsin and in communities throughout Los Angeles.

“I represent an LGBTQ+ city, an immigrant city and a city that still is only 43 years old and fighting to make sure our rights are still here,” Erickson said. “And right now, when I look around, I see everyone struggling.”

Goldsmith said he is running on a platform focused on three main points. First, affordability, and he said that starts with making housing more affordable and childcare more accessible. Second, he wants to improve “quality of life” for everyone, including solving the homelessness crisis and finding ways to reduce crime, he said.

“For too long, we’ve been managing our homelessness problem, not solving it,” Goldsmith said. “Number three, we’ve got to go after the epidemic of hate and division in our society.”

He said that hate is a major issue and declared his support for AB 715, a state law designed to strengthen anti-discrimination protections and address antisemitism in K–12 public schools that went into effect on Jan. 1.

Erickson said he is running on a platform focused on addressing hate and making sure every community feels safe.

“Even though I live in West Hollywood, hate crimes and crimes against our identity and ideology and how we worship happen everywhere,” Erickson said. “So in places like Norwalk or other places, even in the 24th or beyond, we need to make sure we have a cohesive response to this, and also make sure we expand our fight to provide resources to the community that needs it.”

Both candidates closed by thanking the organizers for hosting the forum and emphasizing their commitment to working towards solving issues of hate crimes.