Antonio Lopez Email & Phone Number

My name is Antonio Lopez. The son of Mexican immigrants, I was born and raised in East Palo Alto, a city exceptional in its poverty relative to its proximity to tech giants of the world: Facebook, Google, and the like. At the same time, it is all too to its cousins of inner cities throughout California, who are nestled in wealthy communities and yet not of them. While the bourgeoning tech boom turned Silicon Valley into most affluent areas in the world, little of this wealth entered our city. Our schools remained Title I, truism and dropout rates ran rampant. We all as kids knew the thud of shoes coming down the wheelchair ramp of the WIC clinic, a small portable that flanks our school district. Right now, a shift is happening in American politics. The next generation of voters are losing confidence in the two-party system not because they’re too idealistic, but because they by and large neglected by them. Unlike their Baby Boomer predecessors, their real wages are in stagnation, and haven’t caught up with the rising cost of living. Many are living with parents, gone to attend college in the promise of mobility, only to return deep in debt. I ran for City Council of East Palo Alto because I wanted to inspire the next generation of young leaders. I ran because I am a tired of being a minority of a minority, because I have seen that being a Marshall Scholar, a Duke graduate, an Oxford graduate, and current doctoral candidate at Stanford is a rarity in our community. My successful election is a demonstration of the hunger for change in this country, in this state, and yes, in this party.As the newest and youngest councilman for the City of East Palo Alto, I am excited at the opportunity to take my educational training into the political arena. I am eager to work with elected officials across the county and state, to strategize ways we can invite these new political voices to the table as equal partners.