Mitch O'Farrell

It was speculated that O'Farrell would receive a challenge from a progressive candidate in the 2022 election. Police abolitionist Albert Corado, homelessness policy advisor Kate Pynoos, and UNITE HERE organizer Hugo Soto-Martinez challenged O'Farrell from the left; Sheriff's Deputy Steve Johnson also ran against O'Farrell.

In October, O'Farrell became Acting President of the City Council for eight days following Nury Martinez's resignation in wake of the 2022 Los Angeles City Council controversy.

In 2013, O'Farrell ran for the City Council seat held by Garcetti, where he faced former Public Works Commissioner and labor activist John Choi. The contest between O'Farrell and Choi was noted for being unusually contentious. During the campaign, Choi accusing O'Farrell of xenophobia during the contest over a campaign flier that included "a grainy picture of him above the words “not from our community.” O'Farrell responded by saying that "I didn’t like it anymore than you did, John" and noted it was from an independent group, but also noted that "[t]he fact is my opponent is new to the district... “I am the local candidate.”

As the first Native American to serve on the Los Angeles City Council, O'Farrell has championed indigenous issues. He proposed and successfully established the creation of Indigenous Peoples Day in Los Angeles, and was endorsed by Chief Billy Friend of the Wyandotte Nation nearly a decade ago, during his 2013 City Council campaign.

O’Farrell quickly became an active member of the Glassell Park and greater Los Angeles community. Most notably, he was elected President of the Glassell Park Improvement Association and helped form the Glassell Park Neighborhood Council. O’Farrell also served as president of the Northeast Democratic Club, and regularly volunteered at local non-profits including the Wildlife Waystation, Project Angel Food, and the Santa Cecilia Orchestra. In 2002, he was hired by then-Councilmember Garcetti to work in his office, where he remained for ten years. O'Farrell served as a field deputy, deputy director, district director, and finally as senior advisor.

O'Farrell first moved to Los Angeles in 1982 for an audition. During the 1980s, he pursued a career in the arts and was a professional dancer and actor. He has lived in Glassell Park since 1992.

Mitch O'Farrell (born 1960) is an American politician, who served as a member of the Los Angeles City Council for the 13th district from 2013 to 2022, during which he spent eight days as President of the City Council during the 2022 Los Angeles City Council scandal. A member of the Democratic Party, O'Farrell was the first Native American elected to the body, and was one of its two openly gay members until the end of his second term in 2022.

Mitch O'Farrell was born in Oklahoma in 1960, and raised in the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, Oklahoma. He grew up in a farming community. His mother was an administrative assistant and his father was a Teamster truck driver. O'Farrell is a member of the Wyandotte Nation, and is the first Native American to be elected to the Los Angeles City Council.

During the campaign, he was endorsed by many elected officials including Councilmembers Ed Reyes of the 1st district and Tom LaBonge of the 4th district. After a tumultuous campaign, O'Farrell won in the runoff of the election, receiving 53.05% to John Choi's 46.94%.