California's 34th congressional district

Mejia was inspired by the 2016 presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders to engage more in politics, leading him to become a candidate to the California delegation to the Democratic National Convention.^[9][15] Mejia was a write-in Democratic Party candidate in California's 34th congressional district in 2016.^[16]

Having grown disenchanted with the Democratic Party, Mejia ran as a US Green Party candidate in the same district in 2017 and 2018.^{[17][18][6][19][20]} His 2017 bid was noted for its reliance on small-dollar donations.^[21] Mejia's 2018 bid advanced to the general election and yielded more than 40,000 votes, setting the record for the highest vote percentage cast for any Green candidate against a Democrat for Congress.^[22][23][24] Mejia continued to work as an accountant while campaigning in 2018.^[25]

Election

Mejia announced his candidacy for City Controller, a nonpartisan office, in the 2022 Los Angeles elections.^[26] It has been historically uncommon for the city controller to have extensive accounting experience; Mejia claims the office has never been held by a CPA.^[11] He was the only city candidate in 2022 position to have received ballot access through signatures alone.^[5] During his candidacy, Mejia drew attention to LA fire department employees receiving more than half a million dollars a year, the use of about half of the city's funds from the American Rescue Plan on the LA police department, and the amount of police funding in the budget proposed in 2022 by Mayor Eric Garcetti.^{[27][28][29][26][30]}

Mejia's past tweets criticizing Joe Biden generated controversy during the race.^[2]

On June 7, 2022, Mejia took first place in the primary for LA City Controller, with over 230,163 votes. He obtained 42.75% of the vote, while opponents Paul Koretz and Stephanie Clements obtained 23.83% and 16.01%.^[31] On November 8, 2022, Mejia won the general election with 62% of the vote, defeating Koretz.^[4]

Tenure

Mejia appointed Rick Cole to serve as his Chief Deputy Controller and Sergio Perez to serve as Chief of Accountability and Oversight. Cole is an Urban Studies Professor and was the former mayor of Pasadena and deputy mayor for Los Angeles. Sergio Perez left his position as the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's Inspector General to serve.^[32]

2016 California's 34th congressional district election

2017 California's 34th congressional district special election

2018 California's 34th congressional district election

2022 Los Angeles City Controller election