Westside Story Newspaper – Online The News of The Empire – Sharing the Quest for Excellence
Andre Herndon talks about his journey to his new role, some of his most proud achievements, and his relationship with his family in an exclusive interview with Westside Story Newspaper.
By Savannah Thomas
Working in politics takes a special kind of drive and personality: thankfully, Andre Herndon is the man for the job.
On January 26, 2022, Herndon was promoted to Mayor Garcetti’s Chief of Staff. Herndon has been a part of Garcetti’s team since 2015 and has spent his entire career in politics working his way through multiple roles to get to where he is today. Now, it seems as though years of hard work are finally paying off.
Herndon has always had an interest in public service, but it would be many years before he would work directly in politics. He started his career as a journalist in the mid-1990s, working for the Westside Story newspaper before moving to the LA Wave in 2000. He worked as an editor at the paper for nearly a decade before shifting gears to becoming communications director for the city council, then into Parks and Rec, and finally accepting a job offer working for Mayor Garcetti. Now, Herndon has graduated from reporting on the city budget to helping write it.
And Garcetti couldn’t be happier to have him.
“Andre’s thoughtful leadership and dedication have been essential to everything we’ve done to make Los Angeles a safer, more prosperous, and well-run city,” wrote Garcetti in an email to Westside Story. “In my years of working with him, I have seen that he isn’t just a strong leader—he inspires people to work harder and embrace new ways of solving our most pressing challenges. That’s the kind of leadership Los Angeles needs, and it’s why I know he will make an excellent Chief of Staff.”
In 2021, Mayor Garcetti and his team unveiled their Justice Budget, an ambitious project aimed at targeting underserved communities in Los Angeles. According to Herndon, the process to create and launch this project was time-intensive but resulted in being one of his most impressive projects to date.
“That was my baby for over a year,” Herndon admits, referring to Basic Income Guaranteed: KA Economic Assistance Pilot (BIG: LEAP), a pilot program that will provide 3,000 Angelenos with $1,000 a month for 12 months. It’s a big step towards trying to assist low-income individuals by setting an income floor for them in this time of need.
Given his dedication to making the city of Los Angeles a more equitable place for everyone, it should come as no surprise that Herndon also had a hand in creating Los Angeles Reforms for Equity and Public Acknowledgement of Institutional Racism (LA REPAIR): a program designed to provide $8.5 million in funds to low-income communities of color that were struck the hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic.
It should come as no surprise that this field of work requires a lot of time and dedication. In fact, Herndon admitted that he often “spends more time with his [coworkers] on a weekly basis than his family”. But that doesn’t stop him from finding time to be present in his son’s lives when he clocks out at the end of the day.
Herndon, who had thus far come across as a somewhat closed-off public figure, finally cracked a smile when talking about his family. He recalled taking one of his sons to the Kanye West and Drake benefit concert late last year, and the fond memories that came from it.
“It was very cold, but I braved it,” Herndon said, laughing. “Because I want [my children] to have those experiences.” According to Herndon, his family is something he holds very dear, and he wanted to make an attempt at being a present figure in the lives of his children since being in public service is often-times demanding.
It takes a very special kind of person to do well in politics, but thankfully, Andre Herndon is more than qualified.
