As a public official and a progressive champion, Mike Bonin fought for real solutions and stood up for what’s right, regardless of the political consequences. As a member of the City Council and LA Metro Board of Directors from 2013-2022, Mike fought for real solutions and stood up for what’s right, regardless of the political consequences. Representing Los Angeles’ Westside neighborhoods, Mike confronted the toughest challenges head on, unafraid to advocate for bold, transformative solutions on homelessness, affordable housing, climate change, transportation, and public safety. A progressive champion for renters, low-wage workers, and the unhoused, Mike was also an accomplished advocate for his district, and force for smart, responsive government. He was a strong and early leader on homelessness, approving more than 1,000 units of homeless housing, opened new shelters, and pioneered a services-led approach to homelessness in his district. Some of his most notable accomplishments in office include: raising the citywide minimum wage; crafting renter protections during the pandemic;  providing free public transit to students; creating a public safety ambassadors program on mass transit; restoring and expanding the Los Angeles Fire Department; and jumpstarting the modernization of LAX. 

Mike spoke up when others stayed silent, and took on battles others found too controversial. Bucking tremendous public pressure, he was the council’s most forceful opponent of policies that criminalized homelessness. In the middle of a fiscal crisis, he insisted the police union renegotiate its contract in order to prevent deep cuts in human services. He was the lone vote against cuts to bus service. He successfully fought for reforms that make it easier for grassroots candidates to challenge the establishment. Mike’s principled stands won the ire of the police union, corporate real estate interests, fossil fuel companies, conservative talk radio, NIMBYs and, often, other elected officials. Attempts by these forces to recall him from office failed repeatedly.

Throughout his career, Mike fought for big, comprehensive solutions that address the cause, not the symptoms, of our problems. He led the successful fight for a citywide $15 minimum wage so that all Angelenos could better support themselves and their families. He led the fight for fareless transit for LA’s buses and trains, for construction of city-owned mixed income social housing, for formation of a publicly-owned bank to finance community investment, and for deploying unarmed, trained professionals, rather than armed law enforcement officers, to respond to issues like mental health crises, homelessness, and traffic violations.  

As a public official, Mike fought to create space for younger, more diverse, and more progressive voices in the political system. He supported youth-led organizations, such as the Sunrise Movement, and grassroots organizations fighting for substantive policy changes. He broke political tradition and supported grassroots challengers against incumbent officials. He led fights to expand access to public campaign matching funds, which gave new candidates the resources to compete and win.

After leaving office, Mike served as a Leadership in Government Fellow with the Open Society Foundations, taught public policy at  Occidental College and Loyola Marymount University, and served as a Fellow at the USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future, leading a seminar on Los Angeles politics. He has worked as Senior Fellow with LA Forward Institute, an organization promoting civic engagement and education, a Senior Advisor with the Community Coalition, and as a consultant to Local Progress, a national network of locally elected officials.

Mike hosts a podcast,What’s Next Los Angeles, focusing on politics and public policy, co-hosts the popular LA Podcast, and writes about economic, racial and social justice, and is a frequent commentator on public affairs.

In 2020, Mike was the first Los Angeles-area official to endorse Bernie Sanders presidential campaign, and served as a Sanders delegate to the Democratic National Convention. Prior to his election to public office, Mike co-founded an acclaimed training program for young LTBTQ+ leaders fighting for same sex marriage, worked as a field organizer for the 2008 Obama campaign, served a staff member to elected officials representing the Westside of Los Angeles, and worked as a newspaper and radio reporter.

Mike, who drew national attention after getting arrested protesting the Trump administration immigration policy of separating families at the border, and his husband, Sean Arian, live with their young son in Mar Vista. Mike is a recovering drug addict and alcoholic, who openly shares about his struggles with substance abuse, housing instability, and depression.