For the first time in nearly 20 years, Downey is guaranteed to have a new congress member.

That person should be Robert Garcia.

Lucille Roybal-Allard is retiring at the end of this year, concluding a remarkable run in Congress where she represented Downey with class and tenacity. She was an unrelenting advocate for the 40th congressional district, which has been described as the most Latino-populated district in the nation at 86.5%.

Garcia, the current mayor of Long Beach, is perfectly positioned to build on Roybal-Allard’s work. He was brought to this country by his mother at 5 years old and calls becoming a U.S. citizen his proudest moment.

“My mom brought me to America not knowing English, without an education, and without the right immigration status,” said Garcia, a Democrat. “We came here on a temporary visa and stayed past its expiration date.

“But thanks to a progressive change in immigration law passed by Congress in the 1980s, we were able to apply for permanent legal residency. I became a U.S. citizen at age 21. It was the happiest day of my life.”

As Long Beach mayor, amid increasing anti-immigrant sentiment across the nation, Garcia worked to protect his city’s immigrant, Muslim and LGBTQ residents.

He earned national recognition in 2020 when Long Beach became the first city in the country to vaccinate its educators, allowing the Long Beach Unified School District to reopen schools before most other districts.

Long Beach was also the first city to vaccinate 99 percent of its senior population, prompting the New York Times to hail Long Beach as a “national model.”

“I made sure we focused on the science and led efforts to ensure low-income communities had access to tests and vaccines,” he said.

On the issues, here are some of his positions:

• Expand eligibility and benefits for Medicaid, Social Security and Medicare

• A nationwide $15 minimum wage

• Expand pathways to citizenship for undocumented residents

• Ban AR-15 assault weapons, raise the national age requirement to own a firearm to 21, and a national licensing program

• Cancel student debt and make college free

• Make it easier for workers to unionize

• Strengthen federal protections for LGBTQ+ Americans

Garcia’s Republican opponent, John Briscoe, spends considerable energy trying to be cute on Twitter. In multiple homophobic tweets, he has derided Garcia as “Lord Bobby” and a “self-proclaimed gay mayor” while lauding himself as “THE family man…with children…wife 47 years…”

It’s not clear if Briscoe, at age 74, is as immature as he portends on social media or if his name-calling is part of a broader far-right strategy to become culturally relevant. No matter, it’s frankly childish, embarrassing and not something Downey should be associated with.

Garcia stands as the clear choice to represent Downey in Congress, along with the other vibrant, diverse communities of the 40th congressional district.

Eric Pierce is editor of the Downey Patriot.