Caroline Torosis

Since taking office in 2022, current Santa Monica Mayor Caroline Torosis has shown a tangible commitment to advancing housing development and affordability. Coming to the council with a background on the Santa Monica Rent Control Board, Mayor Torosis represents a productive and materially progressive synthesis between supply-side solutions advocated by YIMBYs and long-term coalition building with tenants and their advocates. She supported an emergency upzoning ordinance in 2025 despite substantial opposition, and she introduced a compromise to the city’s revisions to its Off-site Affordable Housing Pilot Program to strengthen oversight while maintaining the increased flexibility given to developers. Finally, she and her colleagues worked to find a road to SB 79 implementation which focused on upzoning R1 (single family) parcels. The effort to find a path forward - and not just obstruct - shows a spirit of pro-housing leadership from which other cities could learn. If the question is if Mayor Torosis’s continued service on the Santa Monica City Council will lead to more housing built than many of her competitors, we believe the answer to be a clear yes.

Caroline Torosis is the Mayor of Santa Monica and is running for re-election to the City Council in the November 3, 2026 general election. A consumer rights attorney and economic development leader, she was elected to the City Council in 2022, served as mayor pro tem in 2025 and became mayor on December 9, 2025 under the council's rotating leadership. She previously served as a commissioner on the Santa Monica Rent Control Board. In Los Angeles County government she has served in senior leadership roles focused on workforce and economic development, housing stability and the regional economy.