I am a UCLA educator and community organizer. In 2020, I was one of two co-chairs of LA County’s historic Measure J campaign, which passed with over 2.1 million votes in the general election and secured nearly a billion dollars in permanent funding for youth development, small business support, alternatives to incarceration, affordable housing, and other forms of community investment. I led this successful campaign in an election that saw similar referenda fail across California.

I currently serve as Director of Public Policy at the UCLA Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies, and I am the founding Director of the UCLA Black Policy Project – an applied research initiative dedicated to advancing racial equity. I served in Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Office of Reentry and CENTCOM Unit, where I wrote the City’s first comprehensive report on the holistic needs of the formerly incarcerated. I’m an appointed commissioner of the LAUSD Redistricting Commission, I was co-chair of the LAUSD task force on school policing, and I’m a key advisor to LAUSD on ways to expand youth development. In the community, I serve as an executive board member of the Justice LA Coalition and as a founding member of the Million Dollar Hoods Project, a community-driven research project with the mission to end mass incarceration. I’m a member of the PUSH LA Coalition, and I often serve as the bridge between grassroots, activist-led protest and pragmatic political decision making around issues of racial, economic, and environmental justice. In 2018, I helped lead the successful effort to force LA County to cancel a multibillion dollar contract to build a new women’s jail and instead launch an evidence-based, alternatives-to-incarceration initiative focused on advancing employment, life opportunity, and healing instead of ineffective, costly, disproportionate, and unjust punishment.

My academic reports have influenced policymaking on a wide range of urgent issues. My youth justice briefs on the devastating impact of the criminal justice system on kids was used by Senator Holly Mitchell as the foundational research that shaped SB 439 – California’s minimum age of juvenile jurisdiction law that limits the prosecution of young children. I was a lead author of the proposal to establish a Youth Development Department in Los Angeles County – a proposal unanimously accepted by the Board of Supervisors last year. I was the first scholar to calculate the fiscal impact of the money bail industry in Los Angeles, and I’ve helped illuminate the fiscal impact of incarcerating individuals who are unhoused and in need of care. 

I am an environmental, civil rights and consumer rights attorney with a demonstrated history of public service especially with the underserved in our community. I am familiar with the challenges experienced by small businesses since I have had the experience of running my own small business. I am the candidate that is most familiar with the issues and concerns of the various communities that make up our district since I have always attended school, lived here and worked in the district.

I have a long history of advocacy in Sacramento working to promote consumer rights, healthcare, education, criminal and civil justice reform and fair housing laws. This history of working directly with legislators in Sacramento makes me the candidate who will best be able to step in mid-session to fill our open seat in the Assembly. As a lawyer, I have helped this community by protecting the right to vote, advocating for clean air by representing this area before the South Coast Air Quality Management District, fighting against the release of toxic pesticides into the environment, fighting in court for law enforcement accountability against their use of excessive force; arguing for fairness in criminal sentencing guidelines and for second chances for those who evidenced their rehabilitation; protecting the rights of students to fair access to education; and by advocating for the right to jobs on public works projects being built within our community.  As your next State Assembly Member, I will use that experience, determination and commitment to this community to work with you to promote transparency, create jobs, address homelessness and restart our economy.

I will provide transparency; keep an open door policy; meet regularly with members of our community and keep them informed. I will work to create jobs, and keep taxes to a minimum. I will help to improve the economy and our environment by promoting the development of clean energy public infrastructure within our community. I will work to increase affordable housing. I will address the after-effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on our education, health and welfare. I will work tirelessly to improve our district and I will never give up until we accomplish what is best for our community.

The son of a U.S. Army Military Policeman (MP) and Union Steward, Samuel Morales grew up working class in Los Angeles and Monterey counties.  A first-generation graduate from Vassar College, he also earned his Certificate in College Counseling from UCLA.  He served as Homeowner's Representative on the West Adams Neighborhood Council, and worked in Culver City at Chase Bank as Vice President of Investments for six years. Currently Samuel is a Financial Advisor. He has been a homeowner in District 54 since 2009, and owns an Educational Services company with his husband Paul. Samuel is a Biden Democrat. His focus is on our public schools, smart urban planning and commercial development, low-income and affordable housing, supporting and working with our law enforcement partners, advocating for mental health services, and advocating for LGBTQ+ representation in Sacramento. Samuel believes health care is a human right, and would support expanding and building upon Covered California.

I am a Biden Democrat.