2026 CANDIDATE SURVEY
Henry Mantel
Candidate for Los Angeles City Council District 5
To help foster greater discussion about reforming City Hall, we asked City of LA candidates to participate in a six question survey. Half of the questions seek general feedback, and the rest are issue specific.
Please note survey responses, candidate information, and website links are provided for informational/educational purposes only. Fair Rep LA is presenting these responses as submitted without edit, evaluation, or commentary. Fair Rep LA does not endorse, support, or oppose candidates or their responses in any way.
Survey Info:
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Answers: Respondents were told that questions could be answered in 1-2 sentences, and that while additional context was welcome, the form had a 1,250 character limit for each question (approximately 200 words).
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Resource Document: Additional background information was provided via a resource document.
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Participation: Surveys were sent to all City of LA candidates qualified to appear on the ballot. This is a very busy time for candidates, so we appreciate everyone who made time to respond. Please avoid reading too much into a candidate’s lack of participation. We respect the limited bandwidth campaigns have, and it's possible that our request(s) may have been lost in their inbox.
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Background: The City of Los Angeles is undergoing the first comprehensive review of our city’s governance structure in 27 years. The Charter Reform Commission recently transmitted a report containing over 60 recommendations to the City Council, who will soon be deciding what will be sent to the November ballot for potential approval by voters.
Expanding the city council,
Implementing Ranked-Choice Voting,
Police accountability
At the moment, I don't believe there are any recommendations I'm particularly concerned about.
I definitely support increasing the size of the city council, though I would have recommended increasing the size of the city council to 31 seats instead of 25 so that each district was closer to 125,000 residents.
I 100% support this recommendation. I've been an advocate for Ranked Choice Voting for years, even lobbying for a bill in Sacramento during law school that would have allowed general law cities to adopt it. I believe RCV is the best method of voting and I sincerely hope LA adopts it.
Yes. I believe that young people should have a greater say in the future of the city. Giving young people the opportunity to engage in the democratic process while they are still in school will also give them the opportunity to learn more about the process before graduating. I think that if we want politicians to think more long term, we need more voters with their whole future ahead of them.
