Before he was U.S. Senator Alex Padilla, he was a promising twenty-five year old running for Los Angeles City Council.
U.S. Senator Alex Padilla is arguably the most prominent Latino elected official in the nation. Yet, many are unaware that his journey to Capitol Hill began with concerns over his age.
After managing several successful state campaigns, Alex, an MIT graduate and son of Mexican immigrants, decided to run for the Los Angeles City Council at just twenty-five years old.
Centaur North joined his campaign, seeing his youth not as a political weakness but as his greatest strength. We crafted messaging and imagery that positioned Alex as a community-centered leader, admired by both the young and old.
We hired the right staff to replicate the grassroots field campaigns that had proven successful under his leadership. Alex worked diligently, quickly building an impressive campaign war chest.
His only significant opponent withdrew four months before the primary election, allowing Alex to cruise to an easy victory. Two years later, he was elected LA City Council President, serving as acting mayor during the 9/11 crisis. Six years after that, he became a California State Senator; seven years later, he was appointed as California's 30th Secretary of State. On December 22, 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom appointed him as the junior Senator from California—at only 47 years old, well below the average senatorial age of 65.
