Protecting Democracy and the 2025 Redistricting Battles: A Conversation with Xavier Becerra Xavier Becerra and UCLA scholars warn that the fight for fair representation is far from over.

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As our country prepares for another election cycle, questions about representation and the integrity of American democracy continue to dominate public discourse. On October 28, the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs hosted “Protecting Democracy and the 2025 Redistricting Battles,” a Luskin Lecture co-sponsored by the UCLA Voting Rights Project. The event featured former California Attorney General and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, who delivered a keynote address on the challenges and opportunities in protecting democracy ahead of the next round of redistricting. 

Becerra was joined by Chad Dunn, director of litigation for the UCLA Voting Rights Project and a lead litigator in the ongoing Texas redistricting lawsuit, and Dr. Natalie Masuoka, professor of Political Science and Asian American Studies at UCLA and an expert on voting behavior and minority representation. The discussion was moderated by Dr. Matt Barreto, professor of Political Science and Chicana/o Studies and faculty director of the UCLA Voting Rights Project. 

Drawing from his decades of public service at the state and federal level, Becerra underscored the fragility of democratic systems when power is unchecked. “As we’ve seen over the last 10 months, the federal government has a ton of power, and wields it in ways that exceed what the Constitution intends,” he said. “There are limits to federal power, but if you have someone who decides to exceed the scope of that power, you can see how damaging it can be for the states.” 

Throughout the evening, panelists emphasized the critical importance of ensuring that voters retain control over the redistricting process. Becerra contrasted California’s citizen-led commission process with state-controlled redistricting systems in Texas and Florida. “In California, voters have a say. In Texas, the people living in those voting districts have no say in how the maps are drawn,” he said. 

The conversation explored the upcoming Proposition 50 vote in California, which would temporarily establish new district boundaries based on the latest population data. Becerra and his fellow panelists examined how the proposal could affect representation, particularly for communities of color. 

Dunn, who has spent years challenging partisan gerrymandering, framed the issue as a fundamental question of voter rights. “I believe the right to vote is individual, not aggregate,” he said. “If someone is being gerrymandered on the basis of their political views, that is a violation of their right to vote, full stop. And there ought to be a redress for it in court.” 

He went on to note that the composition of Congress does not currently reflect the nation’s diversity. “This action to silence voters on the basis of their race and political views will be successful to some degree,” Dunn said. “What California does to press back on it isn’t just fighting fire with fire—it’s ensuring that Congress is as representative as it can be of this nation as a whole.” 

Dr. Masuoka emphasized the dual nature of redistricting: while it can be used to suppress certain communities, it can also be a tool for empowerment. “Redistricting can discriminate and marginalize voices of color, but the reason we passed the 1965 Voting Rights Act is that redistricting can also increase minority voting power,” she said. “As we look forward to voting on Prop 50, we can protect democracy and ensure that we have protections for voters of color.” 

Becerra urged the students in the audience to remain vigilant and engaged. “The most powerful weapon we have is truth—and the willingness to use our voices and our cameras to protect it.” 

View photos from the event on Flickr.
Protecting Democracy and the 2025 Redistricting Battles

UCLA’s Mark Peterson Receives Inaugural APSA Career Achievement Award in Health Politics and Policy

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Mark A. Peterson, UCLA Professor of Public Policy, Political Science, Health Policy and Management, and Law, and Senior Fellow at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, has been honored with the inaugural Career Achievement Award from the Health Politics and Policy Section of the American Political Science Association (APSA). The award was presented by Julianna Pacheco, outgoing Section President, during APSA’s annual meeting in Vancouver, Canada, on September 12, 2025.

The award recognizes Peterson’s decades-long contributions to understanding and shaping health policy, his mentorship of younger scholars, and his enduring impact on both the field and public life. A leading scholar on American national institutions, Peterson has focused much of his research on the Presidency, Congress, interest groups, and public opinion, with particular attention to health care policy, Medicare reform, and HIV/AIDS politics. He has authored numerous influential works, including Legislating Together: The White House and Capitol Hill from Eisenhower to Reagan and co-edited volumes for the Annenberg Institutions of American Democracy Project, one of which received APSA’s Richard E. Neustadt Award.

Beyond scholarship, Peterson has shaped policy through advisory roles in Congress and California state agencies, contributed to the Blue Sky Health Initiative, and guided health care reform efforts including the Affordable Care Act.

Reflecting on this recognition, Peterson said,  “Receiving this inaugural Career Achievement Award from the Health Politics and Policy Section of the American Political Science Association was an unexpected honor.  As I said to my colleagues in the Section, now populated by subsequent generations of scores of younger and innovative scholars, it has been exciting to participate in and watch the emergence of the study health politics and policy making, and its real-world influence, become so prominent in the discipline of political science.”  

Can Norway Keep Its Democratic Edge Amid Rising Inequality? As elections loom, the Berggruen Governance Index reveals both the resilience and crack of inequality of Norway’s democracy.

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The latest Berggruen Governance Index (BGI) highlights Norway’s unique success in turning natural resource wealth into democratic strength, economic stability, and broad social welfare. Despite heading into the September 8, 2025 parliamentary elections amid fierce debates over wealth taxation and sovereign fund investments, Norway continues to stand out as an exception to the “resource curse.” The report shows that democratic accountability has remained remarkably high, while state capacity and public goods provision have been sustained at world-leading levels, though fiscal capacity has recently weakened. Rising inequality and declining trust in institutions present emerging risks, reflecting growing social fractures beneath Norway’s otherwise enviable position. As Norwegians head to the polls, the challenge will be balancing prosperity and social solidarity to preserve the country’s hard-won democratic and economic achievements

UCLA MSW Student Francisco Villarruel’s Summer in the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office Francisco Villarruel applied his social work training to policy and community engagement at his summer internship.

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by Francisco Villarruel

This summer, I had the privilege of serving as an intern at the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office of Economic and Opportunity, under the leadership of Deputy Mayor Brenda Shockley. My primary role was to oversee the Early Childhood Education Student Advancement Program (ECE-SAP) for participants aged 50 and older. This work encompassed recruitment, outreach, data tracking, and cross-sector collaboration with both public and private partners. One highlight was coordinating the culmination ceremony for a graduating cohort—a celebration of perseverance and community impact.

The Mayor’s Office provided me with a front-row seat to the intersection of policy, systems thinking, and social work. Much of our work involves analyzing how local, national, and global models—such as theories of change and return on investment (ROI)—can be adapted to Los Angeles. A defining moment this summer was engaging in critical discussions about how to improve employment opportunities for formerly incarcerated individuals, including the push to revitalize California’s Clean Slate Act (SB 731). Another milestone was attending an all-staff meeting with Mayor Karen Bass, whose passion for defending democracy and serving Angelenos reaffirmed why I chose this field.

Beyond Los Angeles, I had the honor of representing UCLA Luskin’s MSW program at a global gathering in New York. Meeting delegates from across the world provided fresh perspectives and long-lasting connections. It was striking to hear how leaders from other countries view the challenges facing the United States, and how our own struggles compare with nations still ravaged by war.

I was particularly inspired by conversations about Mexico City’s innovative approach to reducing cartel recruitment. Before becoming President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo served as Mayor of Mexico City, leading policies that offered annual scholarships to students for each grade completed. This strategy dramatically decreased cartel recruitment among youth. As mayor, she also lowered the city’s homeless population to roughly 30,000—remarkable progress for a city of over 20 million residents. In contrast, Los Angeles, with a population of 3 million, faces over 43,000 unhoused individuals in the city and more than 72,000 across the county. These comparisons highlight the potential of evidence-based, people-centered policy to create lasting change.

This summer deepened my belief in being a multi-layered professional—combining policy work, community engagement, and future aspirations in clinical social work, forensic gang expertise, and global consulting. Whether in Los Angeles, New York, or learning from Mexico, the mission remains the same: to foster systems that uplift communities, dismantle barriers, and create sustainable opportunities for all.

UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge Report Highlights Surge in Non-Criminal Immigration Arrests in Washington State New report documents rising arrests of non-criminal immigrants and disproportionate impacts on vulnerable communities

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A new analysis from The Seattle Times shows that immigration enforcement in Washington state shifted significantly during Donald Trump’s presidency. Arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) grew more aggressive, with an uptick in people detained who had no criminal record. Data reveals that while deportations declined nationwide in recent years, the share of arrests in Washington involving individuals without prior convictions rose sharply, heightening fears within immigrant communities. Advocates warn that such tactics have lasting impacts on public safety and family stability.

The UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge contributed crucial data to the report, offering a detailed breakdown of arrest patterns and demographic impacts. Their analysis helped quantify how enforcement priorities changed under the Trump administration and illuminated disproportionate effects on certain immigrant groups in Washington. By mapping these shifts, UCLA CNK’s research provided a factual foundation for understanding how federal policy translated into local consequences.

Jorja Leap on Building Trust and Lasting Change in Watts 60 Years After the Riots Leap underscores the need for genuine respect and trust-building, rather than symbolic gestures alone.

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Nearly six decades after the 1965 Watts Riots, sparked by a routine traffic stop that spiraled into six days of violence and civil unrest, the South Los Angeles community has seen pockets of progress, from improved healthcare access to innovative community policing efforts. Yet, for many residents, deep challenges remain: fragile trust with law enforcement, persistent violence, and limited pathways to economic opportunity.

While demographics have shifted and some progress has been made, Watts continues to struggle with issues of poverty and underfunding, with local leaders emphasizing that real change requires sustained public investment,

UCLA Luskin social welfare professor Jorja Leap, who is on the board of the Watts Gang Task Force and Chair the Research and Evaluation Center, stresses that meaningful progress in Watts requires far more than community events like National Night Out or youth outings organized by law enforcement. For there to be meaningful change, “the LAPD and the Sheriff’s Department have to stop being badge-heavy,” Leap told the Los Angeles Daily News. “Day in and day out, they have to act as respectful partners. As long as we have people being stopped without cause, whether they are Black or Brown, we have a problem. And all the National Nights Out isn’t going to matter.”

Michael Manville Critiques L.A.’s Vision Zero: Progress ‘Incredibly Disappointing” Urban planning expert Michael Manville says Los Angeles’ Vision Zero traffic safety initiative has failed to deliver

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The Los Angeles Times article examines the harsh reality of implementation challenges for ambitious urban goals like phasing out gas-powered vehicles or becoming a fully interconnected Smart City. Most notably, the Vision Zero initiative—the city’s pledge to end traffic deaths by 2025—has stumbled amid funding shortfalls, political inertia, fragmented coordination, and a lack of accountability.

On Vision Zero’s failure, UCLA professor and chair of urban planning Michael Manville didn’t mince words: “Incredibly disappointing,” he said. “The city remains incredibly dangerous for cyclists and pedestrians.”

Despite these setbacks, Los Angeles has committed significant resources to Vision Zero. In the 2025-2026 fiscal year, the city approved a budget of $100 million for Vision Zero initiatives, including road redesigns, improved signage, and enhanced lighting in high-risk areas.

Indonesia’s Democratization at a Crossroads: BGI Report Highlights Rising Challenges Despite robust economic gains and improved public goods provision, Indonesia faces mounting hurdles in governance.

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The newest BGI report reveals striking insights for Indonesia, which faces complex governance dynamics as an archipelagic state and the country with the largest global Muslim population. Achieving full democratization proves a challenge for Indonesia, with the BGI report revealing a decline in democratic accountability. State capacity measures appear to remain stagnant, despite the country experiencing significant economic growth. However, this trend is not uncommon to its Southeast Asian neighbors- illustrating that Indonesia must continue to invest its economic gains in state capacity. Public goods provision has significantly increased, but the country’s complex regional governance system may prove a challenge to maintaining these gains. As Indonesia accelerates its development, it must face these challenges head-on– struggles which have been amplified due to authoritarian tendencies, crippling regional inequality, geopolitical challenges, and struggles with trade diversification as it emerges as a leader on the global stage.

Read the full report here.

Underpaying and Overusing Our Roads: The True Cost of Driving UCLA Luskin’s Mike Manville is challenging how we think about traffic, housing, and fairness.

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If you’ve ever been stuck in gridlock traffic on the 405 or circled the block looking for parking in L.A., you’ve experienced the kinds of problems Michael Manville has spent years researching and trying to solve. As professor and chair of urban planning at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, Manville is reshaping how we think about transportation and housing in a sprawling city like Los Angeles and turning his research into real-world impact.

At the center of Manville’s transportation research is a deceptively simple idea: the way we price things matters and how we price things shapes how we use them.

” Driving costs less than it should, because the full social costs of driving, like congestion, pollution, infrastructure wear, aren’t reflected in what we pay to use our roads.”

“Driving is too cheap, and housing is too expensive,” he says. “Driving isn’t cheap in the absolute sense of the word ‘cheap’ because cars aren’t cheap and gas isn’t free, but in the sense that it costs less than it should, because the full social costs of driving, like congestion, pollution, infrastructure wear, aren’t reflected in what we pay to use our roads.” The price of housing, meanwhile, is driven up by restrictive land-use policies that limit supply.

Manville’s first introduction into urban planning began in a newsroom while covering transportation and housing topics as a local reporter. When the newspaper he worked for went bankrupt, he joined the local planning commission. Eager to turn his newfound passion into a career, he enrolled in the urban planning master’s degree program at UCLA and after a summer as a research assistant, decided to pursue a Ph.D. Today, he leads the department that jumpstarted his second career.

Building on the groundbreaking work of his mentor Donald Shoup, former UCLA urban planning professor and pioneer in parking reform who famously argued that free or underpriced parking distorts urban development, Manville and many other experts in the field have expanded this logic more broadly, emphasizing that it’s not just parking that’s mispriced, it’s also the roads themselves.

One proven strategy to address this is congestion pricing, a transportation policy that charges drivers a fee to use certain roads during peak traffic times. A controversial idea that has gained some traction in recent years, the goal primarily is to improve traffic flow and lower pollution, although it can also generate revenue for public transit and infrastructure.

It’s the idea that using roads during peak times should come with a price, just like electricity or water. “We meter every other government-owned utility,” Manville explains, “but not roads.” “It’s the only system that we don’t charge prices for, and it’s not a coincidence that it’s the only system that colossally breaks down about two times a day.” Manville argues that the same basic principle we apply to everything else in our economy, pricing goods and services based on demand, should also apply to road usage.

“We meter every other government-owned utility, but not our roads. It’s the only system that we don’t charge prices for, and it’s not a coincidence that it’s the only system that colossally breaks down about two times a day.”

Cities like Singapore prove it can work. In Singapore, dynamic tolling keeps traffic flowing at 45–55 mph even in a city as densely populated as San Francisco. Manville argues that Los Angeles could reap similar benefits if it embraced the idea. “We’ve normalized the dysfunction of our transportation system,” he says. “But there’s nothing inherently fair about free roads, or unfair about charging for their use.”

For Manville, reimagining cities isn’t just about policy; it’s about turning research into practical, real-world implementation. At UCLA Luskin, he says, that happens through teaching the next generation of planners, working directly with policymakers, and ensuring research is more accessible to community members. “The biggest impact we can have,” he explains, “is making sure our students leave with the ability to weigh tradeoffs—not chase perfect solutions.”

When asked what he hopes for the next generation of urban planners who will be tasked to solve some of the most complicated issues our cities face today, Manville had some wisdom from his own experience as a young planner.

“I came to UCLA convinced there were a bunch of right answers,” he reflects. “But the biggest lesson I’ve learned, and hope to pass on, is that progress comes from understanding the nuance and complexity of the issues we hope to solve. In a city as vast and diverse as L.A., differing perspectives are inevitable and real change begins with listening, especially to those you may not agree with.”